Nick Mohammed

Nicholas George Mohammed is a British actor, comedian and writer. He has portrayed the character Mr. Swallow across both stage and television for over a decade. He is the creator of the Sky One comedy series Intelligence. Mohammed portrayed the character of Nathan Shelley in the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, for which he was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category at the 73rd and 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Nicholas George Mohammed[citation needed ] was born in Leeds, England. His mother was a Cyprus-born general practitioner and his Trinidad-born father worked in law.

Mohammed was educated at Abbey Grange High School in Leeds. He turned down an offer to study at the University of Cambridge and instead chose to study Geophysics at Durham University, where he was a member of St Aidan's College and played violin in the university orchestra. He had auditioned for the Durham Revue twice but failed to get in, and instead frequented the local comedy circuit.

After graduating from Durham, Mohammed studied for a PhD in Geophysics at Magdalene College, Cambridge. His interest in comedy prompted him to audition for the Cambridge Footlights, which he did successfully.

Mohammed featured in the second series of BBC One's Reggie Perrin and was a co-presenter in BBC Three comedy series The King Is Dead alongside Simon Bird and Katy Wix. He made guest appearances in Pete & Dud: The Lost Sketches, Miranda, How Not to Live Your Life and Life's Too Short, and appeared in Series 2 Episode 4 of the BBC Radio 4 musical comedy show Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section.

Following his hit BBC Radio 4 debut (Quarters), Mohammed's second series Nick Mohammed in Bits attracted further critical acclaim. He was a cast member of BAFTA-nominated CBBC sketch show Sorry, I've Got No Head, and supported Angelos Epithemiou (as one of his radio show characters, Mr. Swallow) on his 2010 national tour. He had a supporting role in all three seasons of C4 comedy series Drifters.

Mohammed is best known for his character, Mr. Swallow, a megalomaniac magician. He created the characters voice and attitude after his English teacher in secondary school who spoke in the same high pitched Northern voice Mr. Swallow does, and the name coming from the fact she would swallow a lot in between sentences. [ 11] He first developed the character while in Cambridge Footlights.[ 12]

Mohammed developed The Mr. Swallow Show for BBC Television and wrote and starred in an original comedy-drama Magic for Channel 4 as part of the Coming Up Scheme. He appeared in CBBC show Hank Zipzer as Mr. Love. He made a guest appearance in the final episode of series 1 and first episode of series 2 of Uncle. In 2015, he joined the cast of ITV comedy The Job Lot. He wrote and starred in two series of 'Detective Sergeant Nick Mohammed', a comedy set in a police station, for BBC Radio 4.[ 13]

In 2018, he voiced Piglet in the Disney film Christopher Robin. Also in 2018, it was announced that he would collaborate on a new comedy series titled Intelligence with David Schwimmer for Sky One.[ 14] In 2019, Mohammed appeared in the second series of Stath Lets Flats. From 2020 to 2023, he played Nathan "Nate" Shelley in the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, which ran for three seasons on Apple TV+. In 2023, Mohammed starred as a police officer in the film Maggie Moore(s), alongside Jon Hamm and Tina Fey.[ 15] He was a contestant on the 17th series of the Channel 4 show Taskmaster, which launched in March 2024.[ 16]

In November 2024, Mohammed opened A Christmas Carol (ish) at @sohoplace in London's West End for a Christmas run. The show was a re-telling of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol with Mr. Swallow as the protagonist, also starring Martha Howe-Douglas, David Elms, and Kieran Hodgson. He originally developed the show at Soho Theatre in 2022.[ 17]

In 2025, he is touring the UK as Mr. Swallow in new live show, Show Pony.[ 18]

Mohammed moved to Richmond, London 2014, and lived there for nearly a decade before moving out. [ 12] His eldest son has an Eidetic memory.[ 11]

Mohammed learned to play the violin as a child and played it in his university orchestra, at St Aidan’s College at Durham University.[ 29] There he met his wife, Becca, whom he married in 2014.[ 30] [ 31] Together they have three children.[ 32] [ 33]