Fawad Afzal Khan (Urdu: فواد افضل خان; born 29 November 1981) is a Pakistani actor, producer, screenwriter, model and singer having received several awards including a Filmfare Award, two Lux Style Awards and six Hum Awards.
Khan began his acting career on the television sitcom, Jutt and Bond. He formed an alternative rock band, Entity Paradigm, with the show's co-stars and began his music career as its lead singer. The band appeared on the finale of Pepsi Battle of the Bands in 2002 and Khan became known for its 2003 debut album, Irtiqa. After about 250 performances, he left the band to pursue a film career. Khan made his film debut with a supporting role in Shoaib Mansoor's sociodrama, Khuda Kay Liye (2007), one of Pakistan's highest-grossing films.
He had his first success in the television period drama, Dastaan (2010), for which he received the Best Male Actor Award at the Pakistan Media Awards. Khan played a lead role in the Pakistani television serial Humsafar (2011), and appeared in Sultana Siddiqui's family drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai (2012). For both performances, he received the Lux Style Award for Best Actor - Satellite. Khan made his Bollywood film debut with the lead role in the romantic comedy, Khoobsurat (2014), for which he received the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He further received critical acclaim for his role in Kapoor & Sons (2016), which earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Following a brief hiatus, he made a comeback with his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Ms. Marvel (2022) as Hassan, Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel's great-grandfather. His action thriller film The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022) became Pakistan's highest-grossing films of all time.
Early life and education
Khan was born in Karachi on 29 November 1981 into a family of ethnic Pashtuns. His father was born in Patiala, British India whereas his mother's family was native of Lucknow, British India and moved to present day Pakistan after the 1947 partition of British India. When Khan was young, his father was in pharmaceutical sales, which required the family to live in Athens, Dubai, Riyadh and Manchester during the Gulf War. His family moved to Lahore when he was 13. He has two sisters; his older sister, Aliya, is an architect and his younger sister, Sana, is a physician. He currently lives in Lahore.
Khan studied at an American school, where he said he faced racial issues and was bullied because of his shy, calm, non-combative nature. Khan passed his A-levels at the Lahore Grammar School, Johar Town (LGS JT), and received a bachelor's degree in software engineering from the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES) in Lahore. Because he could not find a job as a programmer, he soon began acting. In a Forbes India interview, Khan said that he had also failed to find a job in marketing. By then he could play guitar, bass and drums, and became Entity Paradigm's lead singer. Khan's first amateur performance was in the title role of a play, Spartacus.