Zain Imam is 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 ...

actor who predominantly works in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

television. He is best known for his portrayal of Neil Khanna in ''

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

'' show '' Naamkaran '' and Yuvraj Luthra in

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 2 October 1992, as the first privately owned TV channel in the country. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee TV also ...

's ''

Tashan-E-Ishq ''Tashan-E-Ishq'' () is an Indian romantic drama television series created by Subhash Chandra under Essel Vision Productions that replaced Jodha Akbar and aired from 10 August 2015 to 16 September 2016. It was replaced by Zindagi Ki Mehek. ...

'' which earned him

Gold Awards The Gold Awards is an annual awards show that honours the best performers in the Television in India, Hindi-language television industry. They were first awarded in 2007. Boroplus was the title sponsor for the first 10 editions after which Kesh K ...

for Best Actor in Negative Role. In 2019, Imam participated in

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment broadcast network owned by Viacom18. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, youth-oriented reality shows, shows on crime and television films. History It was launched on 2 ...

's stunt-based reality show '' Khatron Ke Khiladi 9''. He was last seen portraying the role of Agastya Raichand in

's '' Fanaa: Ishq Mein Marjawan'' until August 2022.

Career

Early career and success (2014–2017)

Imam started his career as a model, working for agencies such as

Aldo Group The ALDO Group branded as ALDO, is a Canadian multinational corporation retailer that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessories stores. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972, where its cor ...

, and also did few TV commercials before debuting in Hindi television. His first work as an actor came with

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...

television series ''

Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan ''Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan'' (''How Is This Friendship'') is an Indian television series that aired on MTV (Indian TV channel), MTV India from 21 July 2014 to 31 December 2015. A third season premiered on Voot on 15 May 2018 and a fourth season premie ...

'' where he played Abhimanyu Thakkar. From 2015 to 2016, he played a grey-shaded character of Yuvraj Luthra in

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...

Tashan-e-Ishq ''Tashan-E-Ishq'' () is an Indian romantic drama television series created by Subhash Chandra under Essel Vision Productions that replaced Jodha Akbar and aired from 10 August 2015 to 16 September 2016. It was replaced by Zindagi Ki Mehek. ...

'' opposite

Jasmin Bhasin Jasmin Bhasin (born 28 June 1990) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Hindi television shows. She made her debut in 2011 with Tamil movie Vaanam as priya. Bhasin is best known for playing Twinkle Taneja in ''Tashan-e-Ishq'' (2015-16 ...

. The show proved a breakout for him, he won the

Gold Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role Gold Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role is an award given by Zee TV as part of its annual Gold Awards for Indian television series and artists, to recognize a male actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. The ...

. Then, he was cast as Abir Dharmadhikari, new male lead of Zee TV's '' Yeh Vaada Raha'' when it took a large leap, from October 2016 to January 2017.

Establishment and other projects (2017–2021)

Imam got his biggest success when he was introduced as ACP Neil Khanna in

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, ...

's romantic-drama ''

Naamkarann ''Naamkarann'' () is an Indian drama television series which premiered 12 September 2016 on Star Plus. Inspired by the 1998 Bollywood film '' Zakhm'', it was based on the life of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. The show initially starred child actor A ...

'' opposite

Aditi Rathore Aditi Rathore is an Indian television actress. She is best known for essaying the role of Avni Ayesha in Star Plus's ''Naamkarann''. Early life Rathore was born on 30 October 1993, in Jaipur into a Marwari family. She grew up in Bikaner, ...

after a generation leap. The show wrapped up in May 2018. After doing an episodic in &TV's '' Laal Ishq'' with

Mahhi Vij Mahhi Vij (born 1 April 1982) is an Indian model and actress who appears on Hindi television. She is known for playing the role of Nakusha in '' Laagi Tujhse Lagan'' and Nandini in ''Balika Vadhu''. Vij and her husband Jay Bhanushali won the da ...

, Imam entered the popular

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, ...

's series ''

Ishqbaaaz ''Ishqbaaaz'' ()(international title :Game of love ) is an Indian romantic drama television series that aired from 27 June 2016 to 15 March 2019 on Star Plus. It initially starred Nakuul Mehta, Surbhi Chandna, Kunal Jaisingh, Shrenu Parikh, ...

'' as Mohit Malhotra, a full-fledged

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

in September 2018. Venturing into reality shows, Imam made his debut in reality with participated in the adventure stunt-based show '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 9'' in 2019 where he finished at 9th place. His subsequent fictional role as Kabir Mittal, a former

army officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextu ...

in StarPlus' mystery revenge drama ''

Ek Bhram Sarvagun Sampanna ''Ek Bhram...Sarvagun Sampanna'' is an Indian television thriller series that aired on Star Plus from 22 April to 20 September 2019. Produced by Sunny Side Up Films, it starred Shrenu Parikh and Zain Imam in key roles. It was inspired from popul ...

'' failed to impress audience. He was next seen in the music video ''Tanhaai'' by

Tulsi Kumar Tulsi Kumar Dua popularly known as Tulsi Kumar is an Indian playback singer, radio jockey, musician, and actress in the Bollywood industry. She was born to businessman Gulshan Kumar who was the owner of T Series and Great Singer and his wife ...

under T-Series in 2020. In 2021, Imam progressed into digital platform with the

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

Crashh ''Crashh'' is an Indian Hindi-language original drama web series which is streaming on ALTBalaji and ZEE5. It stars Zain Imam, Rohan Mehra, Aditi Sharma, Kunj Anand and Anushka Sen. The web series released on 14 February 2021. It is written by ...

'' portrayed Dr. Rishabh Sachdeva co-starring

Rohan Mehra ''Rohan Mehra'' (born 8 April 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Indian television, Bollywood films and web series. He is known for his roles in Indian TV shows like ''Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai'' as Naksh Singhania, ''Sasural Simar Ka'' a ...

, Kunj Anand, Aditi Sharma and

Anushka Sen Anushka Sen (born 4 August 2002) is an Indian television actress and model known for portraying the role of Meher in the children fantasy show, '' Baal Veer''. She has also played Manikarnika Rao/Rani Lakshmi Bai in the Indian historical drama t ...

Television comeback (2022–present)

Imam returned to television after a long break of 3 years with his role of Agastya Raichand an obsessive/possessive lover, the main protagonist in Gul Khan production '' Fanaa: Ishq Mein Marjawan'' on

opposite

Reem Shaikh Reem Sameer Shaikh is an Indian actress, known for her works in Indian television and Hindi cinema. Her most notable work includes ''Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha'', '' Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat'', ''Tujhse Hai Raabta'', '' Gul Makai'' and '' ...

. for which he received praise from audience. The show ended on 2 September 2022.

In the media

He was appeared in the

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

's Top 20 "Most Desirable Men" list rank at No. 5 in 2018 and at No. 15 in 2019.

Filmography

Television

Web series

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Imam, Zain Indian male television actors Living people Indian male models Male actors from Delhi Indian male soap opera actors Male actors in Hindi television 21st-century Indian male actors Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi participants Year of birth missing (living people)