Jeffrey Mirza (born 3 February 1964) is an English stand-up comedian and actor of British-Pakistani descent.
Early life
Mirza was born and brought up in East End of London, England to Pakistani parents. His family are from the Punjab region of Pakistan and are of Mughal descent. His paternal grandfather was Dr Mirza Taj Baig, a doctor with the rank of Major and one of the first Indians to be a Commissioned Officer in the British Army. His paternal grandfather (Abdur Rehman Mirza) was a Zaildar (Headman for 40 villages) in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir before the Partition.
Mirza attended Barking Abbey Comprehensive School. At the age of 12 he was given the cane (being beaten with a stick by a teacher) for doing an impression of the American Detective Columbo. At the age of 14, Mirza had his first stint at live comedy when he told anecdotes about his summer holiday trip to Pakistan for assembly at Loxford High School. After graduating from the University of Westminster with a Bachelor in Civil Engineering degree and a master's degree in Engineering, he informally began performing with a comedy groups called The Men from ChaCha. One of their famous sketches was a dance parody of the Chippendales called "The Chappattidales".