Dev Patel

Dev Patel plays the role of Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko is from the Fire Nation. He spends all of his time obsessing about catching the Avatar Aang (Noah Ringer). He chases Aang, Katara (Nicola Peltz), and Sokka throughout the world. Patel has had several large acting roles in his short career. He was born in 1990 in England. Patels parents were both born in Kenya.

Dev Patel needed a bit of luck to land his role as Zuko in The Last Airbender. It appeared initally that he would not get the role. Jesse McCartney was originally cast as Zuko, but a conflict with his schedule opened the door for Patel. M Night Shyamalan was familiar with Patel because of his role in Slumdog Millionaire.

Career

Dev Patel is best known for his role in the smash-hit film Slumdog Millionaire. Patel beat out hundreds of Bollywood actors who tried out for the role, because many Bollywood lead actors are built like heroes. They are usually strong and considered good-looking. Patel brought a less heroic feel to the character that he played, Jamal Malik. Slumdog Millionaire was a huge success, and it earned Patel instant fame and recognition. He won a slew of awards for his performance. He would have won more awards, but Heath Ledger ended up winning most of the awards from their category with his performance in Dark Knight. Dev also acts in a television series called “Skins”.

Martial Arts

Like Noah Ringer, Dev Patel is an accomplished martial artist. It will be very interesting to see how these two interact with each other throughout the Last Airbender series. Zuko and Aang fight several times as Zuko tries to capture Aang.

Zuko

Zuko is motivated to catch the Avatar. Zuko’s father, Ozai, considers his son a disappointment. Ozai banished his own son from the Fire Nation after Zuko refuses to carry out a plan of attack that would have resulted in many soldiers’ deaths. Ozai tells Zuko not to return until he captures the Avatar. Zuko thinks that if he can capture the Avatar and bring him back to the Fire Nation, his father will respect him. Zuko commands his ship with his Uncle Iroh at his side. Uncle Iroh has become somewhat of a father figure to Zuko, often offering a voice of reason when Zuko loses his temper (which he often does).