Until a few months ago, Pakistani waiter Rozi Khan had never heard of actor Peter Dinklage, aka Game of Thrones’ fan favourite Tyrion Lannister.
Actually, Mr Khan had never heard of the HBO fantasy behemoth either.
But when the son of his boss at a Rawalpindi restaurant noticed his uncanny resemblance to Dinklage and posted a photo on Facebook, the 25-year-old got a crash course in all things Westeros.
He’s now become a social media sensation and has showbiz aspirations.
“In the beginning, they started calling me Peter Dinklage,” Mr Khan told news agency Reuters, which tracked him down serving flatbread at the small Kashmiri eatery.
“After that I saw his show, and then slowly, slowly I became famous.”
So famous that it appears Mr Khan has already used his Dinklage doppelganger status to land a commercial for an Indian food delivery company.
“Food is coming,” says the Cheetay commercial, riffing on the family motto of Game of Thrones’ House Stark: ‘Winter is coming.’
To be honest, it’s hard to tell if it’s Dinklage himself or Mr Khan, whose goals now stretch beyond the hospitality industry.
“My wish is to work in movies,” Mr Khan said.
“And my other wish is that I should meet Peter Dinklage.”
Food is coming. #KhawariSeAzadi
Ready to watch the next episode of GoT? Don't forget to order your food from Cheetay!
Order now: https://t.co/GZunxg2eqc pic.twitter.com/CMdY08WYtq
— Cheetay (@cheetaypk) April 27, 2019
“Wherever I go in Rawalpindi, my pictures are taken,” Mr Khan – tracked down at work – told German international broadcaster DW news.
He feels Dinklage, 49, is now a “friend” although they’ve “never met face to face physically”, he said.
“I like him so much because he is the same height as me.”
Rozi Khan has never even heard of #GameOfThrones before, but kinda looks like Peter Dinklage…?
Meet Pakistan's Tyrion Lannister! pic.twitter.com/B0ey8NDgYU
— DW News (@dwnews) April 26, 2019
A customer told DW that he was “happy” when he was served by Mr Khan because “I feel like I met Tyrion Lannister in real life.”
found Tyrion Lannister in Peshawar, Pakistan pic.twitter.com/dr5Y7QDisn
— Farrukh (@AbyyLay) February 12, 2019
But while Mr Khan is enjoying his moment in the sun, not everyone who has come across him on social media is a fan.
“Peter Dinklage is a trained actor. Looking like someone doesn’t make you deserving of anything,” said one Twitter user.
As pointed out by Mr Khan, the men are worlds apart, except for their appearance.
It is unknown whether Dinklage ever worked as a waiter while studying acting in the 1980s at Bennington College, Vermont. But he did do a six-year stint at a data processing company before his film debut in 1995’s Living in Oblivion.
His other screen credits include Elf, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which earned him his first Screen Actors Guild Award.
As arch manipulator Tyrion, Dinklage has been one of the marquee stars of Game of Thrones for all eight hit seasons.
In 2005, he and award-winning playwright and director Erica Schmidt (All the Fine Boys) eloped, according to reports. They have two children whose names they have never publicly confirmed.
In 2015, he told The Guardian his wife, 43, prefers theatre to movies or TV because it’s art, not entertainment.
“She’s very inspiring. She’s definitely the artist of the family. I am just the TV actor who pays the bills.”
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