Ayub Khan Din (born 1961) is a British writer and actor. He wrote the BAFTA, BIFA and London Film Critics Circle award-winning film East Is East (1999), adapted from his 1996 Olivier-nominated play of the same name. His 2008 comedy play Rafta, Rafta... won the Olivier Award. He went on to write the film sequel West Is West (2010). On television, he created the Channel 4 comedy-drama Ackley Bridge (2017–2022). As an actor, Khan Din's roles include Sammy in Hanif Kureishi's film Sammy and Rosie Get Laid in (1987), Hanif Ruparell in the soap opera Coronation Street (1992–1993), and Ravi Shah in the ITV series London Bridge (1996). Early life Khan Din was born to a Pakistani father and English mother and lived in Salford. Upon leaving school, he studied drama at the Salford College of Technology. When he completed his course in 1982, he then left to study acting at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London graduating in 1984. He then pursued a career in acting, initially in theatre. Personal life Ayub Khan Din is married to British-Nigerian actress Buki Armstrong. The couple have two daughters and currently reside in Granada, Spain. Khan Din's brothers are Lee Din and Rasshied Din. Lee is a make-up artist in the TV industry and tutor at the School of Make-up in Manchester, and Rassheid is, among other things, the designer of the Diana, Princess of Wales, memorial centre at Althorp. Career As an actor, Khan Din appeared in some 20 British films and TV series in the late 1980s and he was cast in the co-lead role of Sammy in Hanif Kureishi's film Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987) with Frances Barber. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, he worked extensively on the stage debuting at the Royal National Theatre. He was one of the leading characters in the film The Idiot (1992). In the mid 1990s, Khan Din began writing plays, the first was East is East (1996) first produced by Tamasha Theatre Company in co-production with the Royal Court and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. It is often cited as one of the key works to bring Asian culture to mainstream British audiences. The play, published by Nick Hern Books, was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Comedy. The play draws very much from Khan-Din's own childhood in Salford, where he grew up in a large