John Abraham

John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films.

Known for his stoic action hero persona, he is a recipient of a National Film Award along with nominations for four Filmfare Awards.

Abraham was born in Bombay, Maharashtra on 17 December 1972 into a family of mixed religious and ethnic heritage.

His father is a Malayali Syrian Christian from Kerala and his mother is an Irani Zoroastrian, who has many relatives living in Iran.

Abraham's Zoroastrian name is "Farhan", but he was baptised with the name "John."

He has a younger brother named Alan Abraham.

He considers himself a spiritual person but does not follow any particular religion.

Abraham grew up in Mumbai and studied at the Bombay Scottish School in Mumbai.

He attended Jai Hind College, University of Mumbai, and then got an MBA degree from NMIMS, Mumbai.

His cousin Susy Matthew is an author and has written novels like In a Bubble of Time.

Abraham started his modelling career appearing in the music video of the song "Surma" by Punjabi singer Jazzy B.

He then joined the media firm and Time & Space Media Entertainment Promotions Ltd., which however got closed because of financial crisis.

Later, he worked for Enterprises-Nexus as a media planner.

In 1999, he won the Gladrags Manhunt Contest and went to the Philippines for Manhunt International, where he won second place.

He later modelled in Hong Kong, London and New York City, and appeared in a number of commercial advertisements and other music videos for singers including Pankaj Udhas, Hans Raj Hans and Babul Supriyo.

To improve his acting skills, Abraham joined Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute and completed an acting course while juggling modelling assignments.

After a successful modelling career, Abraham made his acting debut with the erotic thriller film Jism (2003), a sleeper hit.

Considered "the top model of India before he ventured into films", Abraham made his acting debut with Jism in 2003, an erotic thriller film which according to Box Office India, was "Hit" grossing NaN.

He portrayed the role of Kabir Lal, a poor, alcoholic and wayward lawyer who falls in love with Sonia Khanna (played by Bipasha Basu), a wife of a travelling millionaire, who plots to kill her own husband with the company of Kabir.

The film met with mixed to positive reviews.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama commented: "Supermodel John Abraham makes a confident debut. The actor rises beyond his looks and registers a strong impact with his performance, more so towards the second half. His dashing looks and excellent physique only add to his persona".

In the same year, Abraham appeared in Anurag Basu's horror paranormal romance film Saaya alongside Tara Sharma and Mahima Chaudhry.

The film garnered mixed to negative reviews, and underperformed at the box office.

Taran Adarsh wrote: "Saaya clearly belongs to John. No two opinions on that! Enacting a very difficult role, the newcomer actually performs like a veteran and delivers a performance that's bound to win him nominations in the awards categories. His growth as an actor is tremendous!"

In 2003, he appeared in Pooja Bhatt's directorial debut film Paap alongside Udita Goswami.

He portrayed the role of Shiven, a police officer, who falls for a Buddhist girl, Kaaya.

The film underperformed at the box office, receiving mixed reviews, and also was premiered at the Kara Film Festival.

That same year, he appeared in Ahmed Khan's film Lakeer – Forbidden Lines, co-starring Nauheed Cyrusi with other stars such as Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty and Sohail Khan, which also underperformed at the box office.

He rose to prominence with the action film Dhoom (2004) and the comedies Garam Masala (2005), Taxi No. 9211 (2006), and Dostana (2008).

In 2004, Abraham played Kabir, the main antagonist in Dhoom, an action film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, and produced by Yash Raj Films, multi-starring Abhishek Bachchan, Esha Deol, Uday Chopra and Rimi Sen.

The film was the third highest-grossing film of the year, which gained him a Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination.

He also starred in the critically acclaimed dramas Water (2005), Kabul Express (2006), and New York (2009).

In 2005, he starred in the action thrillers Elaan and Karam, both of which failed at the box office.

Abraham ventured into film production under his banner J.A. Entertainment with Vicky Donor (2012), which won him the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

He has since produced several of his films, and also wrote the story of Attack: Part 1 (2022).

Outside of his film career, he is the co-owner of the Indian Super League football team NorthEast United FC.

He is also a vegetarian, and is an advocate for animal rights.

Despite a few commercial failures in the subsequent decade, Abraham achieved success with the action thrillers Race 2 (2013), Shootout at Wadala (2013), and Madras Cafe (2013), and the action comedies Housefull 2 (2012), Welcome Back (2015), and Dishoom (2016).

Abraham has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2017 based on his income and popularity.

Abraham then had his biggest commercial successes with the action dramas Parmanu (2018), Satyameva Jayate (2018), Batla House (2019), and Pathaan (2023), the last of which ranks as his highest-grossing release.