| Kush Kazemi | |||||||||||||||
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| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Davood Ghadami | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2014–2021 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 4945 20 October 2014 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 6257 19 April 2021 | ||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Dominic Treadwell-Collins | ||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | The Queen Vic Quiz Night (2020) | ||||||||||||||
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Kush Kazemi is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Davood Ghadami. Ghadami's casting was announced in August 2014 before Kush was introduced by executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins in episode 4945, broadcast on 20 October 2014, as a friend of established character Martin Fowler (James Bye). Kush was created to be a new main character who would "spice up" Albert Square and was initially billed as a hunky, energetic, funny, and kind-hearted market trader who masked a tragic backstory.
Across his stint, his storylines focused on his various romances and flings with female characters such as Shabnam Masood (Rakhee Thakrar), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), and Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). In September 2020, it was announced that Ghadami had left the soap after over six years, with the character being killed off in episode 6257, broadcast on 19 April 2021, where he is pushed in front of an oncoming train by Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith). Ghadami received multiple awards and nominations for his performance and Kush's character was generally praised for his good-natured personality; However, he was often deemed to be underused and the character's death scene was panned by critics.