2001–2012: Early career Gabel made his debut in 2001 as the character Jean-Claude Tournier in episode titled
Breaking point of
series 15 of
BBC medical drama Casualty. In 2002, Gabel dropped out of drama school to appear on the children's fantasy sitcom
I Love Mummy where he portrayed
Pharaoh Prince Nuffratuti (Prince Nuff) of
Abu Simbel, who is unable to ascend to the afterlife until he has completed his scroll of tasks. In 2004, he appeared as Steve in
BBC One medical soap opera
Doctors. In the same year, Gabel appeared as two different characters in different episodes of
Casualty. He joined as series regular character Gurpreet Guppy Sandhu in the same show as a part of
series 19. He was nominated as Most Popular Newcomer at the 2005
National Television Awards for the role. He also appeared as Gurpreet in episode four titled "Teacher's Pet" of
Casualty@Holby City, a nine part special
crossover series of
Casualty and its spin off
Holby City in 2005. He decided to leave
Casualty in 2007 to pursue new acting challenges and concentrate on recording music with his band. In 2008, he made his film debut portraying the character Ben in American
supernatural horror film Boogeyman 3, the final installment of the
Boogeyman film series. He went on to appear as Danny in
Charlie Brooker's horror
comedy drama miniseries based on a
zombie outbreak titled
Dead Set. In the same year, Gabel appeared as Vimal, a trainee priest, in the BBC drama
Apparitions, alongside
Martin Shaw. The first episode aired on BBC One on 13 November 2008. He then starred as P.E. teacher
Rob Cleaver in the BBC One school drama
Waterloo Road from
series 4, which began on 7 January 2009. In 2010, Gabel starred in the 6-part British
police procedural series
Identity as DC Jose Rodriguez on ITV, a member of the identity unit. According to the showrunners
David Benioff and
D. B. Weiss, the journey of his character in the show had to be cut short as he quit the show to pursue projects that put him more front and center. In 2011, he joined the cast of CIA procedural
Fox pilot
Exit Strategy, portraying transport expert Tarik Fayad alongside
Ethan Hawke but the show was dropped after being considered for a midseason airing and later released as a television film. In the same year, he appeared as Jaz in British
coming of age drama
Everywhere and Nowhere alongside
James Floyd and
Adam Deacon. In 2012, he appeared as Troy Vargas in David Hubbard's
Widow Detective. In the same year, he appeared as Umar in the
Silent Witness two-part episode "And Then I Fell in Love". That same year, Gabel founded his own production company
Roughened Verse Entertainment and went to pursue more roles in the United States.
2013–present: Career in the U.S. In 2013, Gabel starred as Detective
Adam Lucas in the third season of the American
medical/
crime comedy drama television series,
Body of Proof on
ABC. His character Adam Lucas was described as young, smart, a rebel and a
Philadelphia native, who is a new entrant in the Philadelphia Homicide division. The show was ABC's third most-watched show and yet was cancelled by the channel after the third season. He appeared as Ruan Sternwood in
Eran Creevy's
action thriller Welcome to the Punch alongside
James McAvoy,
Mark Strong, and
Andrea Riseborough. In the same year, he appeared as a young virologist Andrew Fassbach in
World War Z, based on the
2006 novel of the same name by
Max Brooks. According to the show creator Nick Santora, "Gabel was able to play the difficulty of expressing emotion while being emotional" for the character of ''Walter O'Brien
, who had difficulty processing and expressing emotions. The series debuted on 22 September 2014 and became the highest rated and highest streamed drama for CBS. Scorpion also won The Golden Nymph'' award for 'Best Action & Science Fiction TV Series' in
Monte-Carlo Television Festival (2018). The series was cancelled after four seasons and 93 episodes, despite having higher ratings than other cancellations with the last airing on 16 April 2018. Gabel starred in all 93 episodes of the series and was termed as one of the "11 Breakout Stars of the Fall TV Season 2014" by
TheWrap and
TVLine. In the same year, he made an appearance in a crossover episode of
Scorpion with American action television series
NCIS: Los Angeles. In
Christopher Nolan's
science fiction film Interstellar, which premiered on 26 October 2014, Gabel had a small cameo appearance as the administrator who fanboyed over the lead character played by
Matthew McConaughey and showed him to his quarters. In November 2014, he was seen in
J. C. Chandor's American
crime drama film A Most Violent Year, which was among "323 feature films eligible for the
87th Academy Awards" as announced by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
A Most Violent Year premiered to great critical acclaim. Gabel played Supporting Lead. Several critics were much impressed by his portrayal of Latin American immigrant Julian, who becomes the sacrificial lamb in a politically motivated barter. In a review of the film, Howard Feinstein stated, "If there were an Oscar for best actor in a single scene, Gabel should win for his mad soliloquy on repentance and despair." In 2015, he appeared as Adem Qasim, again a Supporting Lead role, in British
spy thriller film Spooks: The Greater Good alongside
Kit Harington and
Jennifer Ehle. He is the primary antagonist of the film, a terrorist who escapes MI5 custody thanks to a traitor in MI5's leadership. In 2019, Gabel voiced the superhero and
Legion of Super-Heroes member
Thomas Kallor, also known as Star Boy, in
DC Entertainment's
direct-to-video animated
superhero film Justice League vs. the Fatal Five. Its world premiere was at
WonderCon (March 29–31, 2019). In 2020, he joined the cast of
Suspicion on
Apple TV+ an eight part thriller series which premiered on 4 February 2022, based on the Israeli TV series
False Flag, Gabel portrayed British citizen Sean Tilson alongside
Uma Thurman and
Kunal Nayyar.
2017–present: Filmmaking In 2017, Gabel directed the pilot episode titled "Black White & a shade of grey" of TV series
Stakes. In the same year he wrote, produced, directed and starred in his own passion project
Game Show Hurt a piece that tells the story about a man who creates and hosts a game show which unconsciously plays out elements of the past. It is set to release soon. As the third filmmaker project of 2017, Gabel directed and produced a short feature film titled
Grimshaw based on drug addiction and regression of individual freedom. The film gained critical acclaim, with wins for Best Narrative and honorable mentions as Best Featurette and Gabel himself gained a nomination as and a win as Best Director at two different film festivals. ==Personal life==