- For his GCSE drama exam, Patel wrote and performed a portrayal of a child in the Beslan school siege; he earned full marks and an A*, and his teacher said the visiting examiner was moved to tears.
- Before becoming a screen actor, he competed in taekwondo. At the 2004 AIMAA World Championships in Dublin, he won a bronze medal in junior sparring.
- His mother found an open-casting notice for Skins in the free newspaper Metro and took him to the audition while he was preparing for a science exam; he revised on the Underground journey there.
- Danny Boyle considered Patel for Slumdog Millionaire after Boyle’s daughter, a fan of Skins, recommended him. Patel still went through five or six auditions before securing the role.
- Although Monkey Man was his first feature as director, Patel had already directed the 2017 short black comedy Home Shopper, which screened at festivals including Sundance and Melbourne.
- When camera equipment failed during the pandemic-era production of Monkey Man, Patel’s crew filmed some material with mobile phones and GoPros and built a swinging camera rig from rope that he nicknamed the ‘pendulum cam.’
- Patel voiced farmer Toshio opposite Daisy Ridley in the first North American English-language version of Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday, produced for the film’s 25th anniversary.