Zahid Ahmed (actor)

For other uses, see Zahid Ahmed (disambiguation).

Zahid Iftikhar Ahmed (born 20 September 1983) is a Pakistani television actor and former RJ. Ahmed worked as a creative manager for PTV World, and later became an RJ. He later left it to pursue a career in acting, and made his broadway debut with a leading role in the play It Runs in the Family (2006). He also portrayed Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Anwar Maqsood's, Sawa 14 August and its sequel Pawnay 14 August (both 2014). That same year, he made his television debut with the romantic series Mehram.^[1]

Zahid Ahmed
Zahid in 2019
Born	Zahid Iftikhar Ahmed (1983-09-20) 20 September 1983 (age 41) Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
Alma mater	Preston University
Occupation(s)	Actor, RJ
Years active	2006–present
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Spouse	Amna Zahid
Children	2

Early life and education

Zahid received his early education in Rawalpindi and graduated from Preston University in marketing. From 2003 to 2011, Zahid worked as a COO facilitator (corporate trainer) for sales and customer service operations in an IT company, however he left the job when company was discovered fraudulent and joined Pakistan Television Network's flagship channel PTV Home and later as a creative manager to launch an PTV World, where he met Anwar Maqsood and accept the offer to play Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Maqsood's theater Sawa 14 August.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Ahmed started his career as a RJ where he hosted Pakistani version of Australian morning shows The Breakfast Show and The Rush Hour for a year from 2002 to 2003, but left the show due to his job at call center in ISB. Due to his experience at radio, Zahid is a professional voice-over artist and has worked on various commercials for BBC, Nokia and is an official member of Voices.com. He also plays a small role in unreleased film Cedare a joint production of Canada and Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Ahmed made his stage debut in a Pakistani adaptations of Ray Cooney's comedy play, It runs in the family where he portray Dr. David, and in 2007's musical, Bombay Dreams as Vikram. His performances in these plays earned him critical appraisal and in 2008, he went on to play Raoul de Chagny in universally acclaimed musical, Phantom of the Opera and John Smith in Cooney's magnum-opus, Run For Your Wife in 2011, while he continued to work as a trainer. However, his claim to fame came later when he accept the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Anwar Maqsood's hit political-drama play, Sawa 14 August in 2013. Losing 48-pounds for the role he successfully plays the role in over 200 shows performed in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. He then quit his job at PTV to become a full-time actor and played Butt Sahab - a fat, bald blundering buffoon in another Maqsood's comedy-play Half Plate and reprise his role as Jinnah in Sawa 14 August's prequel Pawnay 14 August.^[2]

Ahmed made a television debut with series Mehram alongside Ayesha Khan, that earned him widespread acclaim and recognition.^[3] Sultana Siddiqui offered him the role after watching him at theater. He went on to star in hit drama serial Alvida alongside Imran Abbas Naqvi and Sanam Jung, where he portrayed the character Rameez a mentally disturbed husband of Jung,^[4] describing his character Ahmed said, "Rameez's passion for Haya is similar to Zahid's passion for acting."^[5] He established himself as a lead actor with these roles and appeared in four drama series in 2015 for Hum TV including Jugnoo,^[6] Tum Mere Paas Raho,^[7] Sangat (where he played the role of a rapist),^[8][9] and Zara Yaad Kar.^[10][11] For his debut work he was among the Best Television Sensation Male at 3rd Hum Awards but due to awards rules only winners received nomination and award, which he lost to Adnan Malik.^[12] He received three nominations at 4th Hum Awards including Best actor in a Supporting Role for Alvida, Best Actor in a Negative Role for Alvida and Sangat.^[13]

In 2016, he played Haider Bakht in ARY Digital's drama series Besharam. His performance received critical acclaim.^[14] He was cast in Geo Entertainment high-budget fantasy period drama series, Mor Mahal directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat where he portrayed the role of Kabeer.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role(s)	Channel	Notes
2014	Mehram	Hamza	Hum TV	Television debut
2015	Alvidaa	Rameez
	Jugnoo	Zulfi
	Tum Mere Paas Raho	Tabish
	Sangat	Shavez
2016	Zara Yaad Kar	Hadi
	Kitni Girhain Baaki Hain (Season 2)	Hassaam
	Mor Mahal	Kabir	Geo Entertainment
	Besharam	Haidar	ARY Digital
	Naimat	Babar
	Mera Kya Qasoor Tha	Rohail	Geo Entertainment
2017	Dil e Jaanam	Shavez	Hum TV
	Pujaran	Aabis	TV One
	Tau Dil Ka Kia Hua	Saif	Hum TV
	Gustakh Ishq	Sikandar	Urdu1
	Daldal	Shuja	Hum TV	[15]
2018	Pukaar	Sarang	ARY Digital	[16]
	Visaal	Akram “Akku”
	Dil Diyan Gallan	Hassan	Hum TV	Telefilm[17]
2019	Choti Choti Batain	Fahad		Anthology series
	Ishq Zahe Naseeb	Sameer
	Mein Na Janoo	Zulqarnain "Nain"
2020	Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida	Shahaan
	Faryaad	Muraad	ARY Digital
2021	Hangor S-131	Cdr Ahmad Tasnim		Telefilm
2022	Mor Moharan	Ahmed Khan Ghardezi	TV One
	Dil Phisla Rey	Razi	Geo TV	Telefilm[18]
2023	Mere Ban Jao	Zaki	Hum TV
	101 Talaqain	Rustam Kavasji	Green Entertainment
2024	Jaan Se Pyara Juni	Junaid "Juni"	Hum TV
	Gentleman	ACP Faris Ahmed	Green Entertainment

Films

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
2018	Altered Skin	Riaz
2022	Ghabrana Nahi Hai	Sikandar	[19]
TBA	Jhol
	Sorry: A Love Story

Stage

Year	Production	Role
2006	It Runs in the Family	Dr. David[20]
2007	Bombay Dreams	Vikram
2008	Home is where your Clothes Are	Ronnie
2009	Phantom of the Opera	Raoul de Chagny
2011	Run for Your Wife	John Smith
2013	Sawa 14 August	Muhammad Ali Jinnah
2013	Half Plate	Butt Sahab
2014	Pawnay 14 August	Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Radio shows

Year	Show	Station	Role
2002-03	The Breakfast Show	City FM 89	Host, RJ
	The Rush Hour
2011	The Bumper2Bumper Gaming Show	Drive FM 89.9

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref(s)
2016	4th Hum Awards	Best actor in a Supporting Role	Alvida	Nominated	[21][22]
		Best Actor in a Negative Role		Won
			Sangat	Nominated
2017	16th Lux Style Awards	Best Television Actor	Besharam	Nominated	[23]
	ARY Viewers Choice Awards	Best Couple with Saba Qamar		Nominated	[24]
		Best Actor		Nominated
2018	6th Hum Awards		Daldal	Nominated
2020	19th Lux Style Awards	Best TV Actor - Critic's choice	Ishq Zahe Naseeb	Won	[25]