Kayvan Novak can make a fool sound convincing without making him seem harmless. His voices are finely worked, but it is the sweetness he brings to Waj in Four Lions that makes us rate him so highly.
Fi1m perspective
In Four Lions (2010), Kayvan Novak makes Waj’s confusion seem entirely sincere. There is sweetness in the performance, even when the character is being hopelessly foolish. We laughed at Waj and felt uneasy about how fond of him we were becoming, because his incompetence makes him no less dangerous. That is the work we value most in Novak: he can play someone hopelessly mistaken without treating them as beneath our attention.
His reputation for voices was established by Fonejacker (2007–2008), the prank-call series he co-created with Ed Tracy, and its spin-off Facejacker (2010–2012). Early supporting roles had often confined him to ethnic stereotypes. Creating his own characters gave those vocal skills more purpose, with physical comedy another part of the work.
Chris Morris gives that character work room in Four Lions, where Novak works alongside Riz Ahmed and Nigel Lindsay without making Waj a separate comic attraction. Morris keeps the men’s incompetence and their capacity for harm in the same comedy, and Novak’s warmth makes that harder to dismiss. The middle does repeat jokes that have already landed. That is a weakness in the writing, though, not a reason to wish Waj were played with less affection.
What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024) gives him longer to develop Nandor the Relentless, an ancient warrior brought down to size by pedantry and domestic squabbles. Novak makes him self-important and vulnerable, among an ensemble including Matt Berry and Natasia Demetriou. As the programme settles into hang-out comedy, the concern is how often another squabble can give him something fresh to do.
Cruella (2021), with Novak in the supporting role of Roger, is a less useful place to start. Our qualified recommendation rests on Emma Stone, Emma Thompson and the inventive clothes; the crowded origin story keeps explaining away the nastiness. For a proper introduction to Novak, start with Four Lions, provided laughter that leaves us uneasy is what the evening calls for.
Biography
Kayvan Novak is a British actor and comedian of Iranian descent. He was born on 23 November 1978 in Cricklewood, North London, and trained at Highgate School, the Fine Arts College in Hampstead, and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
He began appearing in British television series such as Family Affairs, Holby City and Spooks before co-creating and starring in the prank-call comedy series Fonejacker (2006–2008) and its follow-up Facejacker (2010–2012). For the former he shared the 2008 BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy (Programme or Series). He played Waj in the 2010 film Four Lions, for which he won Best Comedy Performance in a British Film at the British Comedy Awards.
Novak is known for his role as Nandor the Relentless in the series What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024) and voices Fabian Kingsworth in Archer (2020–2023). His film credits include Syriana (2005), Paddington (2014), Men in Black: International (2019) and Cruella (2021).
