Rik Makarem

Rik Makarem is a British actor famous for his work on television and stage, graduating from the prestigious Royal Conservatoire Scotland. His theatrical pedigree was firmly established, winner of a Laurence Olivier Bursary Award and the Duncan MacRae Memorial, for speaking Scottish dialects, the first Englishman to do so, joining a celebrated list including Robert Carlyle, James McAvoy, David Tennent and Sam Heughen. Rik has starred in over 620 episodes of prime-time TV in a range of multi- award winning shows, including the BBC global smash hit Torchwood III and ITV's costume drama, Foyles War. His lead performances' in ITV's Emmerdale (BAFTA Best Serial Drama 2017 & National TV Award Best Continuing Drama '17, '18, '19) in the role of "Nikhil Sharma" made Rik instantly recognizable, commanding 7-10 million viewers per episode, playing across both comedic and dramatic story-lines. Rik chose to leave the role, stating the need to "keep developing as an actor" and to "pursue period drama and film". Rik joined the cast of BBC's Saturday night BAFTA winning drama, Casualty (Best Serial Drama, 2018), in the leading role of Dr Sebastian "Seb" Grayling. Casualty won Best Drama at the National Television Awards, beating Tom Hiddleston's The Night Manager AND Game of Thrones in 2017.