Ali Fazal Biography

Ali Fazal

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Ali Fazal

Ali Fazal looking away from camera

Fazal at the premiere of Victoria & Abdul, September 2017

Born 15 October 1986 (age 32)[1]

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Alma mater La Martiniere College

The Doon School

St. Xavier's College

Occupation Actor, model

Years active 2008–present

Ali Fazal (pronounced [əliː fəˈzaːl]; born 15 October 1986) is an Indian actor and model. He made his screen debut with a small role in the English language film The Other End of the Line before appearing in the American television miniseries Bollywood Hero.

Fazal made his Bollywood debut with a special appearance in 3 Idiots (2009) and he next appeared in Always Kabhi Kabhi (2011). His first success came in Fukrey (2013), and he was seen in supporting roles in films like Baat Ban Gayi (2013), Bobby Jasoos (2014) and Sonali Cable (2014).

He played the leading role in the horror film Khamoshiyan (2015) followed by his first American film Furious 7 (2015). He also played a role in Happy Bhag Jayegi opposite Diana Penty in 2016.

Fazal starred in the British-American film Victoria & Abdul, which depicts the relationship of Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and her confidant, Indian servant Abdul Karim (Fazal).[2] The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2017.[3] The costumes worn by the lead actors in the film have been added as part of the official display at Osborne House.[4]

In 2018, he played Guddu Pandit in Mirzapur.

Career

2008–11: early work

Fazal appeared in a small role in the James Dodson—directed romantic comedy film The Other End of the Line (2008).[10] The film was a critical and commercial failure.[11][12] He next appeared in the American television miniseries Bollywood Hero (2009) where he portrayed the role of Monty Kapoor.[10] During his second year of college, Saeed Akhtar Mirza saw him in a play and picked him for the lead of erotic thriller Ek Tho Chance (2009), alongside Amrita Arora and Saurabh Shukla.[5] The film focused on the realities and comedies inherent in life in Mumbai. The film premiered at 14th International Film Festival of Kerala.[13]

Ali Fazal looking at the camera

Fazal at a promotional event for Always Kabhi Kabhi, 2011

The same year, Fazal made his Bollywood film debut with Rajkumar Hirani's National Film Award-winning 3 Idiots, a film loosely based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat.[14] He was doing a theatre play at Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, when a person from the film's production unit noticed him and referred him to Hirani.[9][15] Co-starring alongside Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi, Fazal played the role of an engineering student, Joy Lobo. The film received critical acclaim and emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time up until then, grossing ₹3,920 million (US$57 million) worldwide.[16]

In 2011, Fazal was picked up by Shahrukh Khan's production house, Red Chillies Entertainment for the Roshan Abbas–directed romance film Always Kabhi Kabhi.[17] Appearing opposite Giselli Monteiro, Fazal plays the role of Sameer Khanna and had to lose 15 kilos for the role.[15] The film received negative response from the critics but was a box office hit.[18] While Komal Nahta of Koimoi said Fazal acted reasonably well,[19] Gaurav Malani from The Times of India picked him as best in the cast.[20] Later in an interview, Fazal said that doing the film was not a good decision