Ali Fazal

Ali Fazal (born 15 October 1986 ) is an Indian actor.

He made his screen debut with a small role in the English language film The Other End of the Line (2008) before appearing in the American television miniseries Bollywood Hero (2009).

Fazal appeared in a small role in the James Dodson—directed romantic comedy film The Other End of the Line (2008).

The film was a critical and commercial failure.

He had his first Hindi film release with a supporting role in 3 Idiots (2009), and went on to star in Always Kabhi Kabhi (2011), Baat Ban Gayi (2013), and Bobby Jasoos (2014).

He next appeared in the American television miniseries Bollywood Hero (2009) where he portrayed the role of Monty Kapoor.

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.

The film focused on the realities and comedies inherent in life in Mumbai.

In 2011, Fazal was picked up by Shah Rukh Khan's production house, Red Chillies Entertainment for the Roshan Abbas–directed romance film Always Kabhi Kabhi.

Appearing opposite Giselli Monteiro, Fazal plays the role of Sameer Khanna and had to lose 15 kilos for the role.

The film received negative response from the critics and was a box-office failure.

While Komal Nahta of Koimoi said Fazal acted reasonably well, Gaurav Malani from The Times of India picked him as best in the cast.

Later in an interview, Fazal said that doing the film was not a good decision.

Greater success came for his roles in the comedies Fukrey (2013), Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016), Fukrey Returns (2017), as he expanded to international cinema with a small role in Furious 7 (2015) and a starring role as Abdul Karim in Victoria & Abdul (2017).

Fazal's first release in 2013 was in a coming-of-age comedy film Fukrey, in which he portrayed the role of Zafar, a struggling musician.

The film along with his performance received mixed responses from critics.

Nishi Tiwari from Rediff.com said he wore a "dazed expression" throughout the film, and Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV felt his role was "underwritten".

The same year, Fazal appeared in the romantic comedy film Baat Bann Gayi, which was considered a parody of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.

He portrayed the dual roles of Kabir, a successful novelist from Singapore, and Rasiya Bihari, a local don.

The film met with negative reactions from critics and failed at the box office, though Fazal was praised for his acting.

Faheem Ruhani from India Today considered him an upcoming talent to "watch out for", while The Times of India affirmed he is "standing out" from the cast.

The film premiered at the 14th International Film Festival of Kerala.

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.

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.

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 inr 3920000000 worldwide.

In 2014, Fazal appeared in a supporting role opposite Vidya Balan in the comedy-drama Bobby Jasoos.

Initially, Fazal refused the role since he felt he had "nothing much to do in it", but later agreed because of the "unusual romance" between him and Balan.

Fazal's role as Tasawur, a popular local TV anchor who helps a Hyderabadi woman who aspires to be a detective (played by Balan), was well received.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama described Fazal as a "complete revelation": "Although pitted against a powerhouse performer like Vidya, Ali makes his presence felt with a wonderful performance".

The same year he appeared in the film Sonali Cable opposite Rhea Chakraborty, where he portrayed the role of Raghu.

Fazal did his first on-screen intimate scene for a song in the film along with Chakraborty.

He has since starred in the Amazon Prime Video crime thriller series Mirzapur (2018–present), and in the Hollywood films Death on the Nile (2022) and Kandahar (2023).

Ali is starring as Ravi Mohan in the original Netflix movie Khufiya (2023) alongside Tabu and Wamiqa Gabbi.

Ali Fazal was born in Sir Gangaram Hospital, Delhi, and grew up in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

For a very brief period, he went to International Indian School, Dammam.

He also went to La Martiniere College in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and then moved to the all-boys boarding school, The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

At Doon, he took up acting and participated in many Founder's Day theatre productions.

He is said to have "found his calling" when he played the role of Trinculo, the jester in William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

After Doon, Fazal went to Mumbai and graduated in economics from St. Xavier's College.