iZombie's Rahul Kohli Turns 31 Today

11/13/2016 12:38 pm EST

Happy birthday to Rahul Kohli, who is celebrating his 31st today!

The English actor, who plays Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti on iZombie, took the part as his first major American role. He came on board and became the show's resident fanboy, speaking the language of those the show had to work to win over in its first season, since it diverged so much from the comic book source material. From the moment he walked in on Liv eating brains in the pilot and responded coolly, revealing that he already knew the truth about zombies, Ravi has been a fan favorite in no small part due to the acting chops of Kohli, who has managed to toggle back and forth between jokes and somber, solemn moments as well as anybody on the show.

In season two, Kohli was a driving force behind the many Star Wars references attentive fans had fun counting up.

"What's happening now is that the world has opened up and we're getting to see more of what Seattle's about and how everything's entwined and they're creating a living world," Kohli told us at the start of last year. "Within that, yeah, I'm not necessarily always in the morgue. It's great for all of us because this is our second season, this is our Empire Strikes Back. We want to do things and we want to explore different flavors, and we're all fish out of water this season."

Kohli was born in London to parents from Thailand and Kenya, and decided very young that he wanted to pursue an acting career. He studied media studies at Uxbridge College before going on to drama school and then finally appeared in advertisements, with the Royal National Theatre and on EastEnders and Holby City before coming to the U.S.

Happy birthday, Rahul Kohli!

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