Ramon Tikaram is a British stage and screen actor of Indo-Fijian and Southeast Asian descent. He is known for playing such roles as Ferdy in the BBC television series This Life and Qadim Shah in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. Tikaram is the son of Pramod Tikaram, an Indo-Fijian officer of the British Army, and Fatimah Rohani, a Sarawakian Malay mother. His younger sister is singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram. The family moved frequently during Tikaram's youth, because of his father's military service with the British army. He attended military school in Dover before studying English at Kent University, where he discovered acting.