Co-creator of 'Fonejacker' & Actor on 'What We Do in the Shadows'

Kayvan Novak | Biography

Co-winner of 2008 'BAFTA Award' for ''Best Comedy Programme' for 'Fonejacker' 

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Original : January 28, 2022

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Kayvan Novak is an Iranian-English actor and comedian best known for co-creating and starring in the prank-call comedy series Fonejacker. He later rose to prominence as vampire Nandor on What We Do in the Shadows.

Who is Kayvan Novak?

Kayvan Novak is an actor, voice actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was born on 23 November 1978 in London, England, to Iranian parents. He attended Highgate School and then Fine Arts College in Hampstead. He later studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Novak kicked off his on-screen acting career, appearing in an episode of the television series The American Embassy in 2002. He then appeared on several other television series before co-creating Fonejacker with television writer and director Ed Tracy. The duo created the prank call show as a part of Channel 4's Comedy Lab strand, and the show premiered in 2007.

In Fonejacker, Novak appears as a masked prank caller who takes on the guise of various eccentric characters as he prank calls unsuspecting members of the public and business owners. He won the shared 'BAFTA Award' for 'Best Comedy Programme' for Fonejacker in 2008. He also co-created and starred in its spin-off series Facejacker from 2010 to 2012.

Novak made his film debut as Arash in the 2005 thriller drama film Syriana. Later, he appeared as Waj in the 2010 comedy crime drama film Four Lions, for which he won the 'British Comedy Award' for 'Best British Comedy Performance in Film' in 2010.

'What We Do in the Shadows'

What We Do in the Shadows was the supernatural mockumentary television series based on the 2014 film of the same name written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.

The series premiered on FX on 27 March 2019, and it chronicles the lives of three vampires on Staten Island. Novak plays one of these vampires named Nandor. In an interview with the backstage, he told that during the process of preparing, he faced difficulty being comfortable with his character at first. However, he eventually enhanced his skills and impressed the series' producers.

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Sam Johnson, one of the co-executive producers of the series, mentioned Novak as "an incredible impersonator, incredible mimic" during a conversation at 2021 New York Comic-Con.

Novak was nominated for several awards, including the 'Critics Choice Super Award' for 'Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series' for his performance in the series in 2021. The series completed three seasons, and its upcoming fourth season is expected to premiere in 2022.

Wife

Novak is married to his wife Talitha Stone, an actress known for her roles on television series, including The Durrells (2019) and Emmerdale Farm (2017-2018). His wife frequently posts their pictures on her Instagram. In addition, the couple has two pets in their family, a cat named Milo and a dog named Ziggy.

The couple celebrated their fifth anniversary on 19 July 2020 as Novak posted a lovely picture with his wife on Instagram. He wished her their fifth anniversary while also addressing her as his eternal love in the caption. On Valentine's Day of the same year, he posted a picture on Instagram impersonating a vampire with his wife. In the caption, he wrote, "In all my years of pillaging I have yet to pillage anyone as delicious or in fact as nutritious as Talitha."