Kayvan Novak

The voice that fooled a country

Kayvan Novak rarely appeared on screen with his own face in the early days of his career. British audiences first knew him through a telephone earpiece. In 2006 he created Fonejacker, a prank call show in which the focus was on his ability to distort accents and the intent behind his characters.

Comedy was a minefield.

He studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he crossed paths with actors aiming for classical roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company. But Novak chose to mine a different vein: absurdity rooted in the awkwardness of everyday life. His classical training gave solid structure to characters that, in other hands, could have been broad, one-note parodies.

And the gamble paid off.

The Idiot Terrorist and the Leap to Film

In 2010, he landed the role that changed his standing in the British industry. He played Waj in Four Lions, Chris Morris's satire of bumbling jihadism. His performance avoided easy caricature, building a tender character inside a terrorism plot. He made audiences empathize with a guy who wanted to bomb a marathon disguised as a giant chicken.

Filming was intense because Morris demanded constant improvisation built on very rigorous prior research. Novak realized then that dark humor demands almost surgical precision. It wasn't about telling jokes but about inhabiting the character's stupidity with absolute conviction.

Years of supporting roles in big-budget productions followed. He appeared in Paddington 2 (2017) and also had a brief part in Men in Black: International (2019). His profile fit the reliable character actor who always delivers on the job but has yet to find his big global showcase.

Immortality on Staten Island

In 2019, he donned the cloak of Nandor the Relentless in What We Do in the Shadows. The character is a former conqueror of the Ottoman Empire who now lives in a shared house in New York. Novak uses a vocal tone that blends medieval authority with the confusion of a retiree in a modern supermarket. The series reached its sixth and final season in 2024, closing out a cycle of massive critical success in the United States.

Success didn't pull him out of anonymity.

Novak has always preferred to let his face blend in behind prosthetics or voice work. In 2021, he appeared in Cruella as Roger, a more restrained role that counterbalanced the energy of Emma Stone. Despite the high profile of these international Disney projects, he still maintains his residence and base of operations in London.

He avoids red carpets whenever he can. His real interest lies in the recording booth. He has lent his voice to characters in Thunderbirds Are Go and the animated film Early Man (2018). His ability to create distinct vocal textures lets him work on three or four projects at once without audiences linking the voices to the same actor.

The production company he co-founded with Ed Tracy, Smallman, has managed much of his intellectual property rights since 2005. The company's share capital has remained stable following the close of its last fiscal year.