Early life

Ahmed Best was born on August 19, 1973 in New York City. He lived the majority of his formative years in the Soundview section of the Bronx. He moved to Maplewood, New Jersey in 1984. He attended Columbia High School. He then studied percussion at the Manhattan School of Music.

Career

In 1994, Ahmed 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 cast of 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. Unfortunately for Best, Binks drew hostility from moviegoers. Much to his subsequent credit, Best also appeared with fellow Star Wars alumni Dee Bradley Baker, James Arnold Taylor and Daran Norris on the TV show Big Time Rush.

Discography

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"

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Note
1989	Lean on Me	Extra
1999	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	Jar Jar Binks (voice and performance capture)
2002	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	Jar Jar Binks (voice) and Achk Med - Beq
2004	Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.!	Louis Booker (voice)
2004	Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Special Edition	Jar Jar Binks (voice)
2005	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2006	Open Window	Rufus
2009	Mother and Child	Julian
2010	The Pink House	Actor judge
	2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams	Crow
2011	Poolboy: Drowning Out The Fury	Sidney Moncrief
	Some Guy Who Kills People	Mayor Maxwell
2012	FDR: American Badass	Curtis
2013	DJ	Mouse (Armitage segments)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Note
2002	Armitage: Dual Matrix	Mouse (voice)	English version
2003	Alias	Seth	Episode: A Free Agent
2006	The Colbert Report	Jar Jar Binks (voice)	Episode: George Lucas
2007	Robot Chicken: Star Wars	Jar Jar Binks and AT-AT Driver (voice)
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Ahmed	Episode: The Pink Pages
	Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II	Jar Jar Binks and Stormtrooper (voice)	Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Jar Jar Binks (voice)	Episode: Bombad Jedi
	5 Second Movies	Himself
2009	Cougar Town	Dwayne	Episode: Mystery Man
	Big Time Rush	Marketer	Episode: Big Time Audition
2010			Episode: Big Time Blogger
	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Jar Jar Binks and Defense Minister (voice)	Episode: Supply Lines
	Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III	Jar Jar Binks and Carl the Stormtrooper (voice)
2011	Law & Order: LA	Dell Gregory	Episode: Van Nuys
			Episode: Runyon
	Zeke & Luther	Sal Sackelson	Episode: Bro'd Trip
	In the Flow with Affion Crockett	Black Jock
2014	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Jar Jar Binks	Episode: The Disappeared Parts 1 and 2

Short films

Year	Title	Role	Note
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

Documentary

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

Music

Year	Title	Songs
2010	2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams	"The South's Gonna Rise Again" "Rot in Hell" "Hey Hey Howdy Howdy Hey" "Fun, Games and Feastin'" "Building From the Ground Up"

Composer

Year	Title	Note
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Episode: The Pink Pages (Theme song)

Director

Year	Title	Note
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Short film
		Episode: The Pink Pages

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Note
1999	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace	Jar Jar Binks (voice)
	Star Wars: The Gungan Frontier
2000	Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles
2001	Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
	Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing
2005	Lego Star Wars: The Video Game		Uncredited
2006	Scarface: The World Is Yours	Unknown (voice)	Uncredited
2007	Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga	Jar Jar Binks (voice)	Uncredited
2009	Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution	Unknown Boxer (voice)
	Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2	Cloak (voice)
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Jar Jar Binks (voice)

Producer

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)

Writer

Year	Title	Note
2008	This Can't Be My Life	Short film
		Episode: The Pink Pages

Theatre

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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]