Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Biography
John Abraham(born December 17, 1972 in Mumbai, India), is a former
model turned Bollywood actor.
John Abraham's Iranian name is Farhan but he was born and baptised as
John. He has one younger brother, Alan. Abraham's father is a Syro
Malabar Catholic architect, from Alwaye, Kerala in India. His mother,
Phiroza Irani, is part of Bombay's Parsi community.
Abraham's parents eloped, and they were estranged from their
respective parents until the birth of their first child, John.
Abraham attended Bombay Scottish School and later Jai Hind College.He
was an avid sprinter and was a captain of football association. He
later earned a M.B.A degree from MET.
Abraham started his career with the media firm Time & Space Media
Entertainment Promotions Ltd., which however closed down due to
financial problems. Later, he worked for Enterprises-Nexus as a media
planner.
Modeling
In 1999, he won the Gladrags Manhunt Contest and went to Singapore
for Manhunt International, where he won second place. Following this,
he appeared in a number of commercial advertisements. To further hone
his acting skills, John Abraham joined Kishore Namit Kapoor acting
lab and successfully completed a course on acting while juggling
modelling assignments.
Acting
John Abraham made his film debut in 2003 with the controversal film
Jism. The film did well, and his work was widely noticed. Later in
the same year came the paranormal Saaya (2003) and the romantic Paap
(2003); neither of which did particularly well at the Indian
box-office. John's first blockbuster hit came with the movie Dhoom in
2004 where he played the role of the villain 'Kabir'. Other movies
such as Kaal and Garam Masala followed in 2005.
In 2005, he had a major role in Water, which portrayed the tragic
fate of Hindu widows in colonial India (See British India). The film
was written and directed by independent Canadian film-maker Deepa
Mehta. The film was popular overseas, and was nominated for Best
Foreign Language Film at the 79th Academy Awards, which exposed John
to a more international audience.
In the summer of 2006, he performed at the "Rockstars Concert" along
with fellow bollywood stars, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, Kareena Kapoor,
Esha Deol, Shahid Kapoor and Mallika Sherawat.
In 2006, he starred in the films Taxi No 9211, Baabul and Kabul
Express (2006). Among these only Baabul was substantially successful,
particularly in the overseas market.
Nikhil Advani's multi-starrer, Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love was
Abraham's first release in 2007. The move failed to do well at the
Indian box office, but was successful in the overseas market.
John is playing an environmentalist activist in Deepa Mehta's new
film Luna (currently under production) starring Dustin Hoffman,
Rachel Weisz and Chris Cooper.
Apart from his movie commitments, John is also the brand ambassador
for Castrol Power 1 and for the Yamaha Marque.
Personal life
Abraham is currently dating actress Bipasha Basu, They have been dating since 2002.
Filmography
Actor:
In Production
2000s
1. Exclusion (2008) (pre-production) (attached)
2. Little Zizou (2008) (post-production) .... Arjun
3. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007) .... Sunny Bhasin
4. No Smoking (2007) .... K
5. Hattrick (2007) .... Wicket Bacha music video
6. Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) .... Ashutosh Raina
7. Is Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon (2007)
8. Baabul (2006) .... Rajat
9. Kabul Express (2006) .... Suhel Khan
10. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) .... DJ at club
... aka Kank (India: Hindi title: informal short title)
... aka Never Say Goodbye (USA: informal English title)
11. Taxi No. 9 2 11 (2006) .... Jai Mittal
12. Zinda (2006) .... Rohit Chopra
13. Shikhar (2005) .... Special appearance
14. Garam Masala (2005) .... Shyam "Sam"
15. Water (2005) .... Narayan
16. Viruddh... Family Comes First (2005) .... Amar V. Patwardhan
17. Kaal (2005) .... Krish Thapar
18. Karam (2005) .... John
19. Elaan (2005) .... Abhimanyu
20. Madhoshi (2004) .... Aman
21. Dhoom (2004) .... Kabir
... aka Blast (International: English title)
22. Aetbaar (2004) .... Aryan Trivedi
... aka Aitbaar (India: Hindi title: alternative
transliteration)
23. Lakeer - Forbidden Lines (2004) .... Saahil
24. Paap (2003) .... Shiven
... aka Sin (International: English title)
25. Saaya (2003) .... Dr. Akash "Akki" Bhatnagar
26. Jism (2003) .... Kabir Lal
Self:
1. "Koffee with Karan" .... Himself - Guest (1 episode)
- Episode #1.9 (????) TV Episode .... Himself - Guest
2. "Tinseltown TV" .... Himself (1 episode, 2004)
- Episode dated 6 March 2004 (2004) TV Episode .... Himself
3. 49th Manikchand Filmfare Awards 2003 (2004) (TV) .... Himself -
Performer