| Ahmed Best | |
| Alma Mater: | Manhattan School of Music |
| Birth Date: | 19 August 1973 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 1989–present |
| Spouse: | Raquel Horsford |
Ahmed Best (born August 19, 1973) is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is known for providing the voice and motion capture for the character Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars franchise.
Best likewise collaborated with director George Lucas in three films and seven episodes of the cartoon show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He won the Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for portraying Jar Jar Binks in .
Ahmed Best was born in New York City on August 19, 1973.[1] [2] Born in Roosevelt Hospital, he lived the majority of his formative years in the Soundview section of the Bronx, before moving to Maplewood, New Jersey in 1984.[3] He attended Columbia High School, graduating in 1991. He then studied percussion at the Manhattan School of Music.[4]
He is the younger brother of Dunia Best Sinnreich, lead singer and co-founder of Brave New Girl, Dubistry and Agent 99 and formerly with The Slackers.
In 1994, Best joined the acid jazz group the Jazzhole. He contributed to the success of the group for two years. He co-wrote and co-produced three albums for the group including The Jazzhole, And the Feeling Goes Around, and The Beat is the Bomb. In 1995, he co-wrote and co-produced Escape by Bill Evans.
In 1995, he joined the Obie Award-winning cast of Stomp. He toured with the cast of Stomp throughout the US and Europe.
In 1997, after casting director Robin Gurland had observed his flexible, athletic movements in Stomp, Ahmed was cast as Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005). He reprised the role on the Star Wars–themed episode of Robot Chicken (as well as its sequel), Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and on an episode of Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report. Best said he put a lot of himself into the character, so when Jar Jar drew hostility from audiences, it sometimes extended toward the actor or he otherwise interpreted it personally. The character of Jar Jar Binks was so disliked that Best considered suicide.[5] [6] [7] Best later appeared with fellow Star Wars alumni Dee Bradley Baker, James Arnold Taylor, and Daran Norris on the TV show Big Time Rush.[8]
In 2008, he also wrote, directed, and produced the pilot for a television show called This Can't Be My Life.[9]
In late May 2020, Lucasfilm announced that Best would be starring as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in a game-show called , with a scheduled release date of June 3, 2020.[10] [11] It was later reported that Jedi Temple Challenge release date had been delayed until June 10 as a result of the unrest surrounding George Floyd's murder.[12] [13] [14] He would later reprise the role in the third season of The Mandalorian, a live-action series set in the Star Wars universe.[15]
In addition to his acting roles, Best has worked as an adjunct professor at Stanford University.[16] His Stanford classes have touched on subjects such as art and Afrofuturism.[17]
Best also holds the rank of Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Lean on Me | Extra | |
| 1999 | Jar Jar Binks (voice and motion capture) | ||
| 2002 | Jar Jar Binks (voice) and Achk Med-Beq | ||
| Mouse (voice) | English version | ||
| 2004 | Louis Booker (voice) | ||
| 2005 | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | ||
| 2006 | Open Window | Rufus | |
| 2009 | Mother and Child | Julian | |
| 2010 | The Pink House | Actor Judge | |
| Crow | |||
| 2011 | Poolboy: Drowning Out The Fury | Sidney Moncrief | |
| Some Guy Who Kills People | Mayor Maxwell | ||
| 2012 | Curtis | ||
| 2013 | DJ | Mouse (Armitage segments) | |
| W.M.D. | News Reporter |
| Year | Title | Role | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Alias | Seth | Episode: "A Free Agent" | |
| 2006 | The Colbert Report | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | Episode: "George Lucas" | |
| 2007 | Jar Jar Binks and AT-AT Driver (voice) | TV movie | ||
| 2008 | This Can't Be My Life | Ahmed | Episode: "The Pink Pages" | |
| Jar Jar Binks and Stormtrooper (voice) | TV movie Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form | |||
| 5 Second Movies | Himself | |||
| 2008–14 | Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | 7 episodes | |
| 2009 | Cougar Town | Dwayne | Episode: "Mystery Man" | |
| 2009–12 | Big Time Rush | Marketer / Rob | 3 episodes | |
| 2010 | Jar Jar Binks and Carl the Stormtrooper (voice) | TV movie | ||
| 2011 | Dell Gregory | Episode: "Runyon Canyon" | ||
| Zeke and Luther | Sal Sackelson | Episode: "Bro'd Trip" | ||
| In the Flow with Affion Crockett | Black Jock | |||
| 2012 | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | TV short | ||
| 2020 | Jedi Master Kelleran Beq | |||
| The George Lucas Talk Show | Himself | Episode: "Best in Show" | ||
| 2023 | The Mandalorian | Kelleran Beq | Episode: "" | |
| 2024 | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | [18] |
| Year | Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Friendly Criminal | Himself | |
| 2003 | The Stockholm Syndrome | Himself | |
| There's a Sucker Born Every Minute | Nathan | ||
| 2005 | Escorched | Richard Prentiss | |
| 2007 | Charlie's Bitch Ass Hos | Makeafoolofme West | |
| 2008 | This Can't Be My Life | Ahmed |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | From Star Wars to Star Wars: The Story of Industrial Magic | Himself | |
| 2001 | The Beginning: Making Star Wars Episode 1 | Himself | |
| R2-D2: Beneath the Dome | Himself | Uncredited | |
| 2005 | Science of Star Wars | Himself | |
| 2009 | Black to the Future | Himself | |
| 2010 | The Life of Bob Marley | Bob Marley | |
| 2001 Maniacs: Behind the Screams | Himself |
| Year | Title | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | This Can't Be My Life | Short film |
| Episode: The Pink Pages |
| Year | Title | Role | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | ||
| Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier | ||||
| 2000 | ||||
| 2001 | ||||
| 2005 | Uncredited | |||
| 2007 | Uncredited | |||
| 2009 | Cloak (voice) | |||
| 2015 | Disney Infinity 3.0 | Jar Jar Binks (voice) | [19] | |
| 2020 | Fallout 76 Wastelanders | Carver Timmerman / James Addison / Jide (voice) | DLC[20] | |
| 2020 | The Last of Us Part II | Additional Voices (voice) | ||
| 2025 | South of Midnight | Performance and voice director | [21] |
| Year | Title | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The DL Chronicles | Episodes: Wes & Robert (executive producer) Boo & Mark (co-executive producer) | |
| 2008 | This Can't Be My Life | Episode: The Pink Pages (co-producer) |
| Year | Title | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | This Can't Be My Life | Short film |
| Episode: The Pink Pages |
| Year | Title | Role | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Stomp | Sarge | Winner of Obie Award | |
| 1997 | The Tempest | Lead | ||
| 2002 | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Lead | ||
| Jack | Sammy | |||
| 2003 | Vacuums | J. Buttersworth III |
| Song | Note | |
|---|---|---|
| "The Jazzhole" | Co-wrote and co-produced | |
| "And the Feeling Goes Around" | ||
| "The Beat is the Bomb" | ||
| "Secret" | ||
| "Falling Apart" | ||
| "Take Time" | ||
| "Mean What You Say" | ||
| "Sweet Child" | ||
| "I Wonder" | ||
| "Is It Worth" | ||
| "Dear James" | ||
| "It's the Jazz" | On the album Vitality of Expression by Jeff Peretz | |
| "Forms of the Rhythm" | ||
| Celebrity EP | as DJ Starfaker |