Hamza Ali Abbasi (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pyarey Afzal ''Pyarey Afzal'' or ''Pyaare Afzal'' ( ur, ) ( en, Dear Afzal) is a Pakistani romantic drama television serial that aired on ARY Digital, directed by Nadeem Baig, written by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar and production of Six Sigma Entertainment ...

'', and as Salahuddin in the drama serial ''

Mann Mayal ''Mann Mayal'' ( ur, , lit=Heart inclined) is a Pakistani romantic drama television series that aired on Hum TV on 25 January 2016 to 5 September 2016, and was digitally released on the Amazon Prime and Iflix. It is co-produced by Momina Dur ...

''. In 2013, he appeared in two feature films, ''

Main Hoon Shahid Afridi ''Main Hoon Shahid Afridi'' (), is a 2013 Pakistani sports film directed by Syed Ali Raza Usama and produced by Humayun Saeed & Shahzad Nasib. The film features Humayun Saeed, Javed Shaikh and Noman Habib in the lead roles. Nadeem Baig, ...

'' and '' Waar'', for which he received the Best Star Debut Male and Best Supporting Actor awards at the 1st ARY Film Awards.

Family

Abbasi was born into a Punjabi family of civil servants to Major (Retd) Mazhar Ali Abbasi, an army officer, and Begum

Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry ( ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2002 to 2013. Political career She was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of Pakistan Peoples Party o ...

, a politician affiliated with the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

Education

He gained his

Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

from the United States and his

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in the same subject from the

Quaid-e-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

."Hamza Ali Abbasi: From Police to Pyaray Afzal"
(2 March 2015), ''hipinpakistan''. Retrieved 14 April 2019. He also passed the

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...

exams and was working as a

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

officer in the police group before abandoning the job to concentrate on his passions, film-making and acting.

Career

He started his career in 2006 as a theatre actor and appeared in several plays such as ''Bombay Dreams'', ''Phantom of the Opera'', and ''Home is Where Your Clothes Are''. He made his directorial debut with the feature film ''Mud House and the Golden Doll'', which he describes as a simple story about simple people. His breakthrough was the movie '' Waar'' (2013). He was initially an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

Bilal Lashari Bilal Lashari is a Pakistani filmmaker, cinematographer, screenwriter and occasional actor. He made his directorial debut with ''Waar'' (2013), which at the time of release became Pakistan's List of highest-grossing Pakistani films, highest-gros ...

, before the later offered him a role in the movie, that he considers important for his future career. He voiced ''Baba Bandook'', the main antagonist, and ''Vadero Pajero'' in the Unicorn Black produced animated series, ''

Burka Avenger ''Burka Avenger'' () is a Pakistani animated television series created, directed and produced by Haroon. Unicorn Black founder and international pop star Haroon (AKA Aaron Haroon Rashid) created the series as a way to emphasise the importan ...

''.

Politics

He supports the political party

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

, of which he was elected the cultural secretary in January 2018 before quitting the function in April of the same year because he didn't feel "to represent Pakistan’s culture" through his movies. In 2018 he exposed journalist and former wife of

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

Reham Khan Reham Nayyar Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; born 3 April 1973) is a British-Pakistani journalist, author, and filmmaker from Baffa, Pakistan. She is a former wife of Imran Khan, who later became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, The publication of ...

, by revealing the manuscript of the book beforehand. She also claimed to have been threatened directly by Hamza Ali Abbasi via emails. When Abbasi denied the claim, Khan further stated that it was gimmick of Reham Khan's to malign him because of his closeness to Imran Khan.

Personal life

Abbasi was born a Muslim, then for a while became an atheist but now identifies as

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

again.

Theatre

Filmography

Film

Television

Hosting and judging

Awards and nominations

, - ! style="background:#bfd7ff;" colspan="5" ,

ARY Film Awards The ARY Film Awards ( ur, ), commonly known as The AFA's, is an annual Pakistani awards ceremony honoring the cinematic achievements of film industry. Winners are awarded the golden statue, officially the ARY Film Award of Merit, that is ...

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, '' Waar , ARY Film Award for Best Supporting Actor , , - , ''

, ARY Film Award for Best Star Debut Male , , - ,

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, ''

Jawani Phir Nahi Ani ''Jawani Phir Nahi Ani'' (), sometimes abbreviated as ''JPNA'' is a 2015 Pakistani adventure comedy film directed by Nadeem Baig. It was co-produced by Humayun Saeed, Salman Iqbal and Shahzad Nasib at Saeed's production house, Six Sigma Plus ...

, Best Supporting Actor , , - ! style="background:#bfd7ff;" colspan="5" ,

Lux Style Awards The Lux Style Awards is an award ceremony held annually in Pakistan since 2002. The awards celebrate "style" in the Pakistani entertainment industry, and it is the oldest event dedicated to cinema, television, fashion, music and film industry ...

, - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, ''

, Best TV Actor , , - , rowspan="2",

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, ''

, Best Actor Popular , , - ,

, ''

, Best Onscreen Couple , , - ! style="background:#bfd7ff;" colspan="5" , International Pakistan Prestige Awards , - , 2017 , colspan="2", Style Icon of the Year Male ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbasi, Hamza Ali Living people Pakistani actor-politicians Pakistani male film actors Pakistani male voice actors Pakistani male stage actors 21st-century Pakistani male actors Pakistani Muslims Pakistani Sunni Muslims 21st-century Muslims Punjabi people BOL Network people 1984 births Quaid-i-Azam University alumni Male actors in Urdu cinema Converts to Islam from atheism or agnosticism Former atheists and agnostics