Hamza Haq

Hamza Haq (born October 27, 1990) is a Canadian actor, best known for his leading role of Bashir Hamed in the medical drama television series Transplant, which earned him three consecutive Canadian Screen Awards (2021, 2022, 2023).

Early life
Hamza Haq was born to Pakistani parents in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before immigrating to Canada when he was nine years old, where he became a Canadian citizen. His father worked for an airline while his mother was an organic chemist. He learned English from a school in the Filipino embassy in Saudi Arabia before switching to an American school. He later attended Bell High School in Ottawa, Ontario. Haq graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Arts in film studies with a minor in Law.

Career
Haq started his career with roles on various television series, before taking on roles in feature films. As an actor, his work has included the television series Quantico and limited series The Indian Detective. He was also the host for the children's television series Look Kool.

At the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, he received a nomination for Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series for an appearance on This Life, and in 2019 he received the Star award from the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival.

In 2020, he assumed the lead role in the television series Transplant, and had a supporting role in Philippe Falardeau's film My Salinger Year.

In his year-end review of television in 2020, critic John Doyle of The Globe and Mail named Haq as having given one of the year's best performances in Canadian television. The industry trade magazine Playback also named Haq as Canadian television's breakout star of 2020.

Haq won the award for Best Actor in a Drama Series for Transplant at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021 and at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022. In 2023, he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performer in Drama Series.