Kahlil  Joseph               

Kahlil Joseph is a film, television and stage actor and teacher of performing arts who has worked in North America and India, and is based in Los Angeles. His first name is pronounced “Kuh-LEEL”.

He was born in New Delhi, India to mother Mary Joseph, an English Literature professor and author, and father Kurien Joseph, an architect, general manager, theatre practitioner and public speaking teacher. Kahlil frequently traveled with his parents on business trips to other countries, including Australia, England, the United States of America, Canada, Singapore, and Malaysia. Shortly after his first birthday, he moved to Sydney, Australia with his parents for five years due to his father’s company transferring the family on business.

While in Sydney, Kahlil was introduced to the stage at five by his father, playing Noah in a production of "Noah's Ark". That created the love for performing in him. From a young age, he constantly displayed a strong interest in entertaining audiences with various types of performances. Never one to be satisfied with learning one thing, he always tried to learn as many new things as he could. Kahlil had an extremely keen ear for sound since childhood, and would continually mimic everyone and everything he could.

He was constantly encouraged to read books that were advanced for his age. His parents introduced him to various authors, to build his interests and knowledge of other cultures and people.

In 1983, Kahlil moved back to New Delhi with his parents and attended St. Columba's School, Delhi. By the age of 9, trained extensively in voice and diction by his father, he started consistently winning inter-school declamation and debate championships, which continued till the time he was 17.

Simultaneously, at the age of 7, Kahlil began a lifelong practice of another discipline that has had a profound effect on his work and person to this day – the martial arts. When he watched Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, he was inspired immediately by the way the legendary martial artist expressed himself through his physicality and movement. Starting with Shotokan Karate, Kahlil branched into Tae Kwon Do, Hung Gar Kung Fu, and boxing. He competed on a semi-contact and full-contact amateur level.

Kahlil earned his first Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Ramjas College, University of Delhi, India. During his studies, he was the lead singer for various heavy metal and hard rock bands in New Delhi. He learned and developed a high respect during this time for such a type of singer, whom he believes needs even more vocal and physical strength and resilience than a speaker or singer of another genre.

Following college, he was immediately cast as Jean Valjean in a Delhi production of the acclaimed Broadway musical Les Misérables in 1998, which turned out to be his biggest musical theater success in New Delhi. Training to sing in this show was a huge learning experience for him, as he now needed to sing a completely different style from his usual gigs – classical operatic. This also improved his speaking voice remarkably.

His performance got him noticed by a casting director for a new primetime TV drama series Khwahish, and in 1999, he joined the show as its antagonistic fashion designer Ronaldo. He continued his role and also played Zach in the Indian premiere of the stage musical A Chorus Line at Kamani Auditorium, Delhi, until he left India in August 1999.

However, Kahlil had always wanted to work as an actor in the United States. So, in spite of Bollywood beckoning, he packed his bags and headed to Concord University in Athens, WV as a student. By this time, he wanted to learn more about the American acting industry and find work in Hollywood and the American stage while pursuing his second Bachelor of Arts degree, this time in Communication Arts (Theater & Broadcasting). From the time he entered the U.S., Kahlil managed to consistently break ethnic and racial bounds as an actor through his quick ability with multiple accents and physical skills by being cast in many roles that were not originally written for an Indian actor.

In 2001 and 2002, he played the characters Blue Jacket and Wasegoboah in the acclaimed outdoor drama Tecumseh! in Chillicothe, Ohio. In 2003, Kahlil starred as Talvin in the feature film Far From India, which had a gala premiere at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland.

By the time he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Concord University, Kahlil had worked professionally in the vocally demanding arena of outdoor drama and film, learned to ride horses, choreograph fights for the stage and film, and gotten accepted into a competitive graduate class of 10 actors at the prestigious UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Acting in 2006.

Since Kahlil moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue his MFA in Acting, he played Faruq Abdullah in the acclaimed play The Road To Damascus in 2004, which was critically praised in the LA Weekly by Sandra Ross (October 22, 2004) commenting how “Joseph and … deliver persuasive performances …” In 2005, he made his debut on American television on E! as Martin Bashir in The Michael Jackson Trial, as well as lent his voice to the acclaimed Naked In Ashes, a feature-length documentary about yogis in India, which premiered at the NuArt Theatre. In the same year, Kahlil was also featured as a guest celebrity on the Showbiz India Xtreme program.

In 2006, Kahlil played a lead role as Ibrahim Shaalan in the action feature film Special Ops: Delta Force, acting alongside English actor Mark Ryan. Kahlil also guest starred as Resident Amer in the TV series Untold Stories of the ER. In October 2006, he joined the cast of the hit television daytime drama Days Of Our Lives for a month in a recurring guest star role as Dr. Myers. Kahlil’s character played the specialist who is desperately searching for a cure to save the poisoned characters Kayla Johnson and Steve Johnson. On Thanksgiving Day 2006, he appeared as a real-life Christian evangelical preacher seeking asylum in America in the television special Thanksgiving USA, hosted by Pat Boone. Kahlil also lent his presence to two national commercials in the fall of 2006, one for the U.S. Army and the other for Chrysler, both of which ran till 2008.

In January 2007, Kahlil was the main character in the Season 6 opening of the TV drama 24. In the summer of that year, Kahlil played villain Mahmoud Bashir in the play The Conex at the Write Act Theatre in Hollywood, California.

In January 2008, he guest starred with his voice on the TV series Zoey 101 as Roger, the tech support employee who frustrates lead character Chase Matthews endlessly using his trademark question “Have you tried pressing Control G???” He then played train engineer Cutty Nagim accused of foul play in the TV series Numb3rs in November 2008. During this time, Kahlil also played a predatory pornographer, aptly called The Cunt, in the controversial play Money Shot. His work was highly praised in Variety magazine by Bob Verini, who noted that “Explosions always threaten from a cast in constant motion, especially from … Kahlil Joseph as the industry’s preeminent videographer in a hilarious sendup of every egotistical auteur who ever pulled a hissy fit on set”.

Kahlil enjoyed one of his favorite television roles in the TV series Leverage. He played a con man, Avi/Donnie, a good friend of lead character Eliot Spencer, played by actor Christian Kane. Kahlil also portrayed heroin dealer Omar in the feature film La Linea, which stars Ray Liotta, Andy García, and Danny Trejo. In October 2009, he played The Bank Manager who aids lead detectives Rick Castle and Kate Beckett in catching the killer in the TV series Castle. 

Kahlil’s voice talents were heard in the film Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts, released on August 13, 2010.

Kahlil co-starred as the villainous Professor Callahan in the 2nd National USA/Canada Tour of Legally Blonde, The Musical. For a full 9 months from September 21, 2010 till May 15, 2011, he performed a total of 242 shows in 96 cities and traveled 35,050 miles. He was the youngest and first actor of color to play the role, which had previously been cast with older Caucasian actors.

Throughout the tour, the press strongly praised Kahlil's performances, which stood out from the rest of the shows. As Professor Callahan, he was also extremely popular and requested frequently for interviews. He was interviewed as a special guest by tons of TV and radio stations and newspapers.

Kahlil continues to look for juicy roles in film, television and stage that light a creative fire in him.

Simultaneously, Kahlil made a notable mark as a teacher of a remarkable variety of performing arts. He was on the faculty of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television from 2007–2008, where as a Professor of Voice & Speech applied to acting, he taught the undergraduate senior acting and musical theater students. He continues to privately train performers and non-performers in acting, accents and dialects, voice, speech and combat (for stage/screen, as well as real life).

Kahlil still trains in and teaches multiple-system self-defense, consisting of Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Savate, all in conjunction with the core philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, created by none other than Bruce Lee. He also works out dedicatedly. He is a rabid fan of mixed martial arts, and loves to cook healthy food.