Joplin Sibtain

Joplin Sibtain, sometimes credited professionally as Chook Sibtain,^[1][2][3] is a British actor known for the Netflix series Safe, his seasons at the National Theatre and as Tarak Ital on the Doctor Who special, "The Waters of Mars". He voiced Olin in Horizon Zero Dawn. He won best actor at the New York Movie awards for the title role in Memory Man, and starred as Brasso in the Star Wars television series Andor.

Joplin Sibtain
Born	1969 (age 55–56) London, England
Other names	Chook Sibtain
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000–present

Biography

Sibtain was born in Waltham Forest, London in 1969 to an English mother Mary, who named him after Janis Joplin, and an Arab father. The couple separated when Sibtain was young, who was raised by his mother.^[4]

Sibtain won a scholarship and attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He has performed in theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.^[5] In the 1990s he played the role of the masked troubadour, who made himself appear in the idents and the commercial bumpers of the Swiss Italian-language television channel TSI produced by Lambie-Nairn.^[6] He is known for playing various film and television roles including Mickey, opposite Nick Nolte in Head Full Of Honey, Neil Chahal in the Netflix series Safe and Tarak Ital in Doctor Who.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	The Stretch	Richard Asher	as Chook Sibtain
2012	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Alpha	Robert "Pepper" Bonifacio	as Chook Sibtain Short film
2018	Head Full of Honey	Mickey
2022	I Used to Be Famous	Dave
2025	The Strangers – Chapter 2	Billy Bufford
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	EastEnders	Jack Robbins[7]	15 episodes as Chook Sibtain
2002	Bad Girls	Naj Khan Din	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "Curtain Call"
2002–2008	Doctors	Matt Brown & 3 other characters	10 episodes as Chook Sibtain
2003	Grease Monkeys	Deep	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "Grease Monkeys"
2005	Footballers' Wives	Surjit	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "Episode #4.5"
	Where the Heart Is	Gary	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "Together"
2006	The Bill	Chris Dalton	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "413: Up Against the Wall"
	Holby City	Eddie McGuire	2 episodes as Chook Sibtain
2007	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Mark Grantham[1]	2 episodes as Chook Sibtain
2009	Robin Hood	Isabella's Guard	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "The Enemy of My Enemy"
	Doctor Who	Tarak Ital	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "The Waters of Mars"
2011	Hustle	Lloyd/Danush Larijani	as Chook Sibtain Episode: "Benny's Funeral"
2018	Vera	Naz Ahmed	Episode: "Blood and Bone"
	Marcella	Nick	Episode: "Episode #2.1"
	Hard Sun	DS Herbie Sarafian[1]	6 episodes as Chook Sibtain
	Safe	Neil Chahal	8 episodes
2022	Monster Ships (TV series)	Narrator	8 episodes
2022–2025	Star Wars: Andor	Brasso	9 episodes
2023	Death in Paradise	Charlie Banks	1 episode
Video games
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Horizon Zero Dawn	Olin	as Chook Sibtain Voice
	Star Wars Battlefront II	—N/a	as Chook Sibtain Voice
2021	Necromunda: Hired Gun	The Shadow / Orlocks	Voice
	The Ascent	stackBoss Poone	Voice
2022	Triangle Strategy	Sorsley	Voice
	Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga	—N/a	Voice
	A Plague Tale: Requiem	Milo	Voice

Television idents and bumpers

• TSI "Masked troubadour" idents and bumpers (1993-1997) (uncredited)