Typecast actor sues over too many kebab shop roles

An actor is thought to have made legal history by bringing a discrimination case against his own agency for alleged racial typecasting, claiming that the roles it said he was best suited for were "kebab-shop owners and terrorists".

Alan Marni, an Iranian who has lived in Britain since he was four, has taken Otto Services Management to a Sheffield employment tribunal, alleging that it branded him a "foreigner" and only promoted him for "race-specific" parts.

The sole auditions he had in his first nine months, he alleges, were for a rapist in Cold Feet, a paedophile in BBC1 drama Cops and a "shifty Arab" in a corporate video entitled Knights of Malta for the Spanish Tourist Board.

Otto, a Sheffield-based agency run as an actors' co-operative, strenuously denies all his allegations.

Though Mr Marni is believed to be the first actor to sue his agency for discrimination, his case highlights the ongoing issue of racial stereotyping in the performing arts.

Art Malik, the Pakistan-born star who played an arms dealer in the James Bond film The Living Daylights and a Middle Eastern terrorist in True Lies, once complained that Asians were offered roles only as "doctors, lawyers or people pushing brooms around Heathrow". Last year, English theatre was accused of institutional racism in a study published by the Arts Council of England and the Theatrical Management Association. The report found that, of the 2,009 people employed in the theatre, including actors, prop-makers and directors, only 4 per cent were black or Asian.

Omid Djalili, the Iranian comedian who has made a small fortune playing seedy Asian characters in Hollywood films – including a scheming Egyptian prison warden in The Mummy and a slave-dealer in Gladiator – said: "Producers, writers and directors need to show more imagination in the roles they offer black and Asian actors."

Although he said typecast roles could at least get you noticed, he added: "We're at the stage now where a bit of positive discrimination is justified. If a director has a choice of two actors, both equally suited to the role, but one is black or Asian, I think they should go for the ethnic minority, because it sends out a stronger statement."

Veteran Punjabi actor Saeed Jaffrey, who recently played an Indian corner-shop owner in Coronation Street, said stereotyping had become complex. While in the past there were not enough roles for black and Asian actors, more were now available but the range was narrow. Only a handful of actors had bucked the trend, he said, notably Adrian Lester, the Olivier-award winner who was the Royal Shakespeare Company's first black Hamlet. He is soon to appear as Henry V at the National Theatre.

"Things are much better than they were 30 years ago, when they used to black people up to appear as Indians in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum," Jaffrey said. "There is still stereotyping in casting, but it isn't malicious – it's just an easy way out."

The tribunal, which continues tomorrow, has already heard from Jamaican-born actor Martin Oliver from Epsom, Surrey, who insisted he had never encountered racism at Otto.

"I find it hard to believe that Alan would only be put forward for Arab-type parts," he said. "If Alan had a problem with that, he should not go for the roles. You have got to look at yourself. I am sure we all think we are Brad Pitt, but you must know your limitations."