Faysal Quraishi ( ur, ; born October 26, 1978) is a
Pakistani actor, producer and television host. He appears in Pakistani television dramas, reality shows and films, and is one of Pakistan's highest-paid actors.
He is the recipient of more than 20 nationally recognised awards. He first gained recognition for playing the leading role of Boota in television series ''
Boota from Toba Tek Singh
''Boota from Toba Tek Singh'' ( ur, ) is a 1999 Pakistani drama serial. It was aired by Pakistan Television Corporation in Urdu language and had a total of 22 TV episodes. It was written by Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar, directed by Dilawar Malik. Th ...
'' (1999) and has now been a part of more than 200 projects.
He hosted a morning show "Muskurati Mornings with Faisal Qureshi" from 2010 to 2014 on TVOne. From 2016 to 2019, he hosted the morning show ''Salam Zindagi'' on
ARY Zindagi
ARY Zindagi is a Pakistani pay television entertainment channel and a part of ARY Digital Network. The channel airs a variety of Indian, Turkish and Pakistani programs. ARY Zindagi was first aired on 5 April 2014 as a test run available on As ...
.
He was also the host of a game show "Jeet Ka Dum" on HUM TV and is currently hosting another game show "Khush Raho Pakistan" on BOL TV. He also turned producer in 2017 with the production house ''Connect Studios'' and also owns a film production house "Faysal Quraishi Films".
Early life
Quraishi was born in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. His father belonged to Urdu Speaking community, hailing from Hyderabad Deccan but settled in Lahore, while his mother is a Sindhi speaking Memon. His mother
Afshan Qureshi
Afshan Qureshi is a Pakistani actress. She is known for roles in dramas ''Baba Jani (TV series), Baba Jani'', ''Barfi Laddu'', ''Malika-e-Aliya'' and ''Log Kya Kahenge (2020 TV series), Log Kya Kahenge''.
Early life
Afshan was born on November 1 ...
and aunt
Rozina Qureshi
Rozina Qureshi ( ur, ), or just Rozina (born September 21, 1950), is a Pakistani film actress. She is known for movies like ''Armaan'' (1966), ''Josh'' (1966), ''Ehsaan'' (1967), ''Ishara'' (1968), ''Tum hi ho mehboob mere'' (1969), ''Khamosh ...
were famous film actresses of their times. Now his mother appears mostly on the smaller screen. His father, Abid Qureshi was an actor too, and wanted to see his son achieve great heights as an actor and to prepare him, he enrolled Qureshi into every sport, skill and activity imaginable - horse-riding, classical dancing, swimming, cricket and the list goes on. Faysal was just over 17 years old when his father got diagnosed with brain haemorrhage. All their wealth and property was spent on his treatment and that's when Qureshi decided to appear into films, to support his family. Unfortunately, just a month before his movie released, his father died, leaving his wish of seeing his son as a movie star unfulfilled. To this day, this remains Faysal's biggest regret that his father could not witness his success.
Career
Quraishi began his career as a child artist and appeared in the plays ''Emergency Ward'' and
Andhera Ujala
Andhera Ujala ( ur, اندھیرا اجالا, English: ''Darkness, Brightness'') was a popular Pakistani crime investigation television series aired on Pakistan Television ( PTV) during the 1984–85 season, written by ''Younis Javed'' and di ...
for
PTV.
He made his film debut as an actor in the 1992 film ''Saza''. He starred in 19 movies over the span of 4 years, but could not create a concrete place for himself, and switched to the smaller screen. He first played minor roles in television serials before landing his first lead role as "Boota" in ''
Boota from Toba Tek Singh
''Boota from Toba Tek Singh'' ( ur, ) is a 1999 Pakistani drama serial. It was aired by Pakistan Television Corporation in Urdu language and had a total of 22 TV episodes. It was written by Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar, directed by Dilawar Malik. Th ...
'' in 1999 which made him an overnight star, then there was no looking back''.'' Faysal has also appeared as a judge on competition shows ''Dum Hai To Entertain Kar'' and ''Nachle.'' He also hosted the reality show ''Hero Banney Ki Tarang'' and the morning show ''
Muskurati Morning'' on
TVOne Global
TVOne Pakistan ( ur, ) is a general entertainment channel from Pakistan that airs dramas, soaps, sitcoms, and foreign (American, British) reality and lifestyle programs. Seema Tahir Khan is the CEO and creative head of the channel.
History
Star ...
. He also played a variety of characters in many critically acclaimed dramas, including ''
Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan
''Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani television drama series, directed by Babar Javed and produced by Abdullah Kadwani and Humayun Saeed, based on Umera Ahmad's novel of the same name. The series is about Saba, a woman torn ...
'' (2009), ''
Meri Ansuni Kahani'' (2009), ''
Masuri'' (2005), ''Roag'' (2014), ''
Main Abdul Qadir Hoon
Main Abdul Qadir Hoon ( ur, ) (English: I am Abdul Qadir) is a Pakistani drama serial that aired on Hum TV every Saturday starting from 18 December 2010 to 21 May 2011. The serial is written by Sarwat Nazir and directed by Babar Javed. Fahad ...
'' (2010), ''
Qaid-e-Tanhai
''Qaid-e-Tanhai'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani drama serial that aired on Hum TV from 22 October 2010 to 18 March 2011. It was written by Umera Ahmad and directed by Babar Javed. The drama serial was produced by A & B Productions.
Plot
Qaid-e-Ta ...
'' (2010), and ''
Kis Din Mera Viyah Howay Ga
''Kis Din mera Viyah Howay Ga'' (meaning, "When will I get married?") is a Pakistani sitcom series first aired on Geo TV in August 2011. The series was first directed by Muhammad Iftikhar Iffi and starred Faisal Qureshi, Aijaz Aslam, Jana Mal ...
'' (2011–2018), ''
Rang Laaga
''Rang Laaga'' ( ur, ) is a 2015 Pakistani drama serial that originally aired on ARY Digital from 11 March 2015 to 4 November 2015, airing a total 34 episodes. It was directed by Anjum Shahzad and was written by Sana Fahad. The drama stars Saima ...
'' (2015), ''
Muqaddar'' (2020), and many others.. In 2018, he was seen in a revenge based drama series ''
Khalish
''Khalish'' is a 2018 Pakistani dramas, Pakistani Drama (film and television), drama serial directed by Syed Ali Raza Usama, produced by Aijaz Aslam, and written by Imran Ali Safir. The drama stars Faysal Qureshi (actor), Faisal Qureshi, Asif Ra ...
.''Faysal also played the leading role in the 2014's meha-hit critically and commercially acclaimed drama serial ''
Bashar Momin
''Bashar Momin'' ( ur, ) is a 2014 Pakistani television series directed by Ali Raza Usama. The serial has been written by Zanjabeel Asim and produced by Asif Raza Mir and Babar Javed under their Banner ''A&B Entertainment''. It stars Faysal ...
'' which was the 1st ever Pakistani drama to air on Indian television.
In 2015, ''
Daily Pakistan
The ''Daily Pakistan'' ( ur, ) is a daily newspaper in Pakistan, published both in Urdu language and in English. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami is its chief editor.[
From 2016 to 2019, Faysal hosted the morning show ''Salam Zindagi'' which aired on ]ARY Zindagi
ARY Zindagi is a Pakistani pay television entertainment channel and a part of ARY Digital Network. The channel airs a variety of Indian, Turkish and Pakistani programs. ARY Zindagi was first aired on 5 April 2014 as a test run available on As ...
. Qureshi was appointed as a CLF Goodwill Ambassador by the Children's Literature Festival on July 30, 2019.
Filmography
Films
Television
Other appearances
Awards and recognition
See also
* List of Pakistani actors
Lists of Pakistani actors are split by gender.
* List of Pakistani actresses
* List of Pakistani male actors
Pakistani
{{Short pages monitor