[4] Aakeel gained his first leading feature role in the film Eaten by Lions as Omar, a young man in search of his estranged father.

The film had a wide cinematic release in April 2019 and also starred comedians Johnny Vegas, Jack Carroll and Asim Chaudhry.

[7] In 2016, Aakeel was cast alongside Riz Ahmed and Billie Piper in the London crime thriller City of Tiny Lights directed by BAFTA winner Pete Travis.

[9] Later that year, Aakeel landed a supporting role in The Hungry, Film London's contemporary feature adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus playing troubled brother to Life of Pi's Suraj Sharma.

[14] He then led an episode of BBC One's Moving On playing Mati, a young refugee whose leave to remain is revoked on his eighteenth birthday.

[17] Later that year, Aakeel began portraying the recurring role of Rafael Hyland in the BBC One thriller series Dublin Murders.