Ahad Raza Mir

Ahad Raza Mir (born 29 September 1993) is a Pakistani-Canadian actor. He is the recipient of several awards, including three Hum Awards and a Lux Style Award.

The son of actor Asif Raza Mir, and the grandson of director-producer Raza Mir, Mir pursued Fine Arts at the University of Calgary. He subsequently worked as an actor in several theatre productions in Canada made his acting debut with a supporting role in the social drama Sammi (2017). He rose to prominence with the romantic drama Yaqeen Ka Safar, which proved to be a breakthrough for him, earning him critical acclaim and a Lux Style Award for Best Actor. His subsequent performances as a leading actor in the period drama Aangan (2018), the aerial combat-war film Parwaaz Hai Junoon (2018), the ISPR-based ensemble drama Ehd-e-Wafa (2019), the thriller Yeh Dil Mera (2019) and the comedy Hum Tum (2022), earned him further praise.

Mir has since starred in the Indo-Pak conflict based web-series Dhoop Ki Deewar (2021), and the American and British series Resident Evil (2022) and World on Fire (2023).

Early life, career beginnings and stage roles (1993–2016)
Mir was born in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. He is the son of Asif Raza Mir, a veteran actor and producer of the Pakistani film and television industry. Mir's paternal grandfather, Raza Mir, was a filmmaker who also served as cinematographer for the first ever Pakistani film, Teri Yaad (1948). His mother Samra Raza Mir is a musician who was part of Pakistan's first female band, Symphony, formed in 1993. He has a younger brother, Adnan Raza Mir, who has launched his acting career in 2023 with the comedy drama Fairy Tale on Hum TV. Singer and actor Haroon Shahid is his cousin.

Mir attended a Performing Arts High School, and graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Mir started his career in 2010 at age 17, playing a brief role as the son of Sania Saeed and Faisal Rehman in the Hum TV's romantic drama Khamosiyan. Mir started his career on stage, performing, directing and writing in several musicals and plays across Canada. Mir wanted to move to Toronto, but instead decided to go back to Pakistan to work in films and television.

Yaqeen Ka Safar and rise to prominence (2017–present)
In 2017, Mir started auditioning for Hum TV's production house MD Productions, and was cast as a leading role in Yaqeen Ka Safar where he played Dr. Asfand Yaar, a grief-stricken brother alongside Sajal Aly and Hira Mani. He then had a supporting role in the social drama Sammi opposite Mawra Hocane. His performance earned him Lux Style Award for Best Actor, and won three Hum Awards including the Hum Award for Best Actor.

Coming from an influential film making family, Ahad was accused of nepotism. Responding to such claims Mir stated that he wanted “people to take [him],as an actor, very seriously and that he is “here to give Pakistan some good cinema and TV”.

In 2018 Mir made his Coke Studio debut as a featured artist in its eleventh-season, where he performed the song "Ko Ko Korina" with Momina Mustehsan. Their rendition of the classic song was widely criticized. Within a few days of the video being released on YouTube, it became the most-disliked video in the music show's history. That same year, Mir made his film debut with Haseeb Hassan's military-drama Parwaaz Hay Junoon, co-starring Hamza Ali Abbasi and Hania Aamir, which was released on Eid al-Adha. Mir replaced Osman Khalid Butt in a role of Flight Lieutenant Saad, who opted out due to his other commitments. In 2018 Mir reunited with Sajal Aly and Mawra Hocane in Hum TV's Mohammed Ehteshamuddin-directed period drama Aangan where he played a poet, Jameel. The series was one of most hyped dramas of 2018 but it has been a huge disappointment which in result was panned by audience. In 2019, The Shakespeare Company,in a joint production with Vertigo Theatre in Canada, signed Mir to play Hamlet in their production becoming one of the first South Asian actor to play the role professionally in Canada. His performance won him the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama.

In the same year, he played an army officer Saad Faraz in ISPR based Ehd-e-Wafa opposite Alizeh Shah. He then starred Amaanullah Khan opposite Sajal Ali in suspense thriller Yeh Dil Mera. For both these performances, he received Lux Style Award for Best TV Actor - Critics nominations. Mir made his web debut co-starring Sajal Ali in Dhoop Ki Deewar as Vishal Malhotra. The series was released on ZEE5.

After a hiatus of three-years, He played a college student Adam Sultan in the Ramadan special comedy Hum Tum opposite Ramsha Khan. The series was praised across Pakistan. The same year, he made his Netflix debut with the series Resident Evil, as Arjun Batra. He next appeared in British series World on Fire, as Rajib Pal.

Personal life
On 6 June 2019, Mir got engaged to his co-star and actress Sajal Aly, and married her in a private intimate ceremony on 14 March 2020 in Abu Dhabi. The couple allegedly got separated and eventually divorced in March 2022.

Media image
Mir is considered one of Pakistan’s highest paid actors. In 2017, he was placed eighth in the list of most searched celebrities on Google of 2017 in Pakistan. Images Dawn named Mir in their "Standout performances: Male" list of 2019. Mir has been placed in the Hello Pakistan's HOT100 list, in the "Trailblazers" category, in the year 2020 and 2022. The actor serves as an ambassador for a number of brands including Nestlé, Mountain Dew, Xiaomi, Coca-Cola and Lays, among others. In 2021, he was appointed the ambassador of the Pakistan Pavilion, at the Expo 2020 Dubai. Mir was placed at 42nd position in Eastern Eye's "Top 50 Global Asian Celebrities" list of 2023.