He may currently be wowing the West End with his rousing performance as King Arthur in Monty Python's hit stage musical Spamalot, but noted comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar insists he still thinks of Heston as home.

The star of shows including The Kumars at Number 42 and Goodness Gracious Me was born in Ealing and grew up in Heston where the family lived above a launderette Sanjeev's father had bought, and he lived there until he moved away to study at Hatfield Polytechnic, now the University of Hertfordshire.

Sanjeev always had a love of the theatre, starting with early visits to The Beck Theatre, in Hayes, but started his performing career with his friend Nitin Sawhney, now a noted composer, at the Waterman's Art Centre, in Brentford.

The first people ever to hear Sanjeev perform, albeit by microphone rather than in person, were the patients of West Middlesex Hospital, in Isleworth, when he was part of its radio station in the early 1990s.

The road to stardom would not be an easy one, but Sanjeev had grown used to dealing with tough times thanks to the racism he encountered during his senior school days at Cranford Community College.

"My school was on the border with Southall and there was a 30 per cent Asian mix at a time of high tension," he said. "People tried to stop me talking to white kids which I refused to do so for six months people just stopped talking to me which was very hard to take.

"I had a strong personality and a sense of humour which others found threatening and peer group dynamics led to my being cast out. At first I thought there must be something wrong with me, but gradually I realised it was the people doing this who were wrong.

"I am grateful for the experience now because it made me realize how prejudice exists on all sides and in all forms. I wanted to be free to be who I was, but was also perfectly happy to respect the existing culture.

"I think nowadays people are trying too hard not to appear racist; to me there is a big difference between respecting a culture and imposing it on everyone else.

"My family and I are Hindus, but we are more than happy to fit in with the established Christian traditions of this country. My advice to someone in the same position I was is to find a creative outlet for your troubles and work hard to overcome them."

Although most familiar for using traditional Asian roots to dream up his comedy programmes and sketches, it is the beloved American and British teams like Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers and Monty Python which make him laugh the most.

He is now firmly loving his role as the King of the Britons in Spamalot and hopes to until the end of its run next year. When asked if he has any remaining ambitions replies simply: "To be 5ft 10ins, but that one is probably beyond me!"