Tarik Makarem
- Actor
- Producer
Tarik Andrew James Makarem was born and raised in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. He's a graduate of the prestigious drama institution, Royal Conservatoire Scotland 2005, winning a Laurence Olivier Bursary Award and the Duncan MacRae Memorial, for speaking Scottish dialects; previous winners including James McAvoy, David Tennent and Sam Heughen.
Tarik's heritage is English Lebanese.
In 2009 Tarik performed a leading guest role in Russell T Davies BBC sci-fi hit Torchwood III - the series receiving great critical acclaim. 2010 saw period drama appearances in ITV's Foyles War and the period feature film, Anton Chekhov's The Duel, alongside Andrew Scott. For ITV, he played the lead series role of Nikhil Sharma in Emmerdale (BAFTA Best Serial Drama 2017 & National TV Award Best Continuing Drama '17, '18, '19) for over 620 episodes leaving the series in 2016.
In 2016 Tarik joined the cast of BBC's BAFTA winning drama Casualty (Best Serial Drama, 2018), as Dr Sebastian "Seb" Grayling in a leading story-line with William Beck. Casualty would go on to win Best Drama at the NTA's in 2017, beating Tom Hiddleston's The Night Manager AND Game of Thrones.
Alongside a host of theatrical roles, in 2022 Tarik joined the BBC One and Showtime USA series We Hunt Together, in the lead guest role James O'Neill, working with producer Alex Lamb.
2025 sees Tarik lead the cast of the much anticipated historical drama Jesus Crown of Thorns, as Jesus of Nazareth. Produced by Nutopia (Winner of 3 Emmy's in 2024 - "African Queens"), the series chronicles Jesus' life against the relentless political backdrop and brutality. Season one premieres on FOX in the USA.
Tarik's heritage is English Lebanese.
In 2009 Tarik performed a leading guest role in Russell T Davies BBC sci-fi hit Torchwood III - the series receiving great critical acclaim. 2010 saw period drama appearances in ITV's Foyles War and the period feature film, Anton Chekhov's The Duel, alongside Andrew Scott. For ITV, he played the lead series role of Nikhil Sharma in Emmerdale (BAFTA Best Serial Drama 2017 & National TV Award Best Continuing Drama '17, '18, '19) for over 620 episodes leaving the series in 2016.
In 2016 Tarik joined the cast of BBC's BAFTA winning drama Casualty (Best Serial Drama, 2018), as Dr Sebastian "Seb" Grayling in a leading story-line with William Beck. Casualty would go on to win Best Drama at the NTA's in 2017, beating Tom Hiddleston's The Night Manager AND Game of Thrones.
Alongside a host of theatrical roles, in 2022 Tarik joined the BBC One and Showtime USA series We Hunt Together, in the lead guest role James O'Neill, working with producer Alex Lamb.
2025 sees Tarik lead the cast of the much anticipated historical drama Jesus Crown of Thorns, as Jesus of Nazareth. Produced by Nutopia (Winner of 3 Emmy's in 2024 - "African Queens"), the series chronicles Jesus' life against the relentless political backdrop and brutality. Season one premieres on FOX in the USA.
