Mehrun Nissa Hassan, commonly known as Mehr Hassan, is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actress, model, and classical dancer.

Personal life and education

Hassan is the daughter of religious theologian

Riffat Hassan Riffat Hassan (born 1943) is a Pakistani-American theologian and a leading Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an. Early life and career Hassan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to an upper-class Sayid Muslim family. Hassan's maternal grandfather ...

. She was born to a Pakistani mother and an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

father. Mehr is settled in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, though she has performed in films in India and Pakistan, as well. She received her master's degree from the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

Career

Hassan started her dancing career as a stage performer in the United States. During her college years, she visited India during summer breaks and began her film career in a Tamil film called ''Anbe Diana'', in which she played the title character. During her stay in India, she also studied acting at the

Kishore Namit Kapoor Kishore Namit Kapoor (born 1949) is an Indian actor, author and acting teacher. He has trained some of the most prominent film and television actors of the Hindi industry including Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh ...

Institute. She continued to work in films while in college, including the award-winning films, ''Diwali'' and ''Dreams''. It was on the set of ''Diwali'' that Samina Peerzada approached her for her film, '' Shararat'', which was filmed in Pakistan and released in 2003. She has also appeared in the films, ''The Gold Bracelet'' (2006) and ''Heart Land'' (2009). Hassan is an accomplished dancer and has worked in award-winning music videos as a dancer and director.

Partial filmography

Music videos

* Directed and performed (vocals and dance) in ''Kuch Nahi Terey Bin'' * Co-directed and performed (vocals and dance) in ''Man Mohna'' (My Spirit) * Performed (vocals and dance) in ''Piya Nain Milla''

References

External links

* * * * Living people Pakistani film actresses Pakistani emigrants to the United States University of Louisville alumni American film actresses Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistani female models Actresses from Lahore 21st-century Pakistani actresses American female dancers American models of Pakistani descent American female models of Indian descent Dancers from Kentucky {{Louisville-stub