In 2013, he played the title role in the stage adaptation of Guantanamo Boy. The play ran at the Half Moon Theatre and toured nationally at Middle Temple Hall, Almeida Theatre, The Hat Factory, Mercury Theatre, Burnley Youth Theatre and The Drum Theatre. The Stage's Susan Elkin wrote Aakeel "is great as the distraught, anguished, terrified Khalid. The downhill spiral followed by the final return of a damaged-for-life boy to Rochdale is well handled too. He has a very expressive face."
In 2015, He played the lead role of Artie in Waiting for Garbo at the Crescent Theatre as part of the Birmingham Theatre Festival. Love Midlands Theatre reviewed the performance, commenting his "portrayal of a brash New Yorker falling apart is utterly convincing."
In 2016, Aakeel was cast in Guilty Pleasures directed by Sonny Michael Chohan, a TV drama pilot based on real life sex trafficking circles in the UK.
In May 2017 he appeared in the three-part BBC One drama Three Girls directed by BAFTA winner Philippa Lowthorpe.
