User:Joe dos Santos/Ivan adnan

Ivan Adnan (born February 14, 1988) is an Australian actor, model, and international journalist. He is best known for playing the role of a seductive and tempting Devil in a hit Austrlian play, Children of Destiny.

1. Early life

2. Education

3. Legal

4. Acting

5. Journalism

6. Personal life

1. Early life

Ivan was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh to Asma Islam and Shahidul Islam. His father is an aeronautical engineer for QANTAS. Seven months after the birth of his younger sister, Sarah(1993), the entire family migrated to Sydney, Australia.

Ivan attended Eastlakes Public School, living in the suburb Eastlakes, in eastern Sydney. In 1997, Ivan's father was offered a job with National Jet Systems in Perth, hence the family made the move to Perth. The family returned to Sydney however, when Mr Islam was offered a job with Qantas in Sydney.

'''2. Educational achievements '''

Ivan attended Randwick Boys High School for a brief few weeks upon arrival in Sydney, but soon switched to East Hills Boys Technology High School, as the family decided to move to western Sydney.

In 2001, Ivan sat the Selective Schools test, and as a result was offered a place at the prestigious Macquarie Fields High School. During his time at Macquarie Fields High School, Ivan excelled in English, Art. Ivan achieved the highest in history every year at Macquarie Fields, being awarded rewards at end of year awards ceremonies. Ivan also competed in English, Mathematics, Science competitions, as well as the Rio Tinto National Science Olympiad. Ivan was awarded excellence in Year 12 Business Studies.

Ivan's extracurricular activities in high school included being a member of the Macquarie Fields Bushwalking club, a Peer Support Leader, a Yellow Ribbon leader, the Year 12 Jersey Commitee, the Year 12 Video Commitee and being the secretary of Interact Community Service Club. Furthermore, Ivan was elected by all fellow students as Year 11 Student Representative Council member. In addition to this, Ivan was a district level Student Representative Council, organised a Senior Citizen's Luncheon, raised funds for the Salvation Army, and worked closely with toddlers at the Family Cottage Care Centre, as well as working closely with the Ingleburn Rotary Club.

A noteworthy achievement of Ivan's during Year 11 was his selection to attend the NSW Schools Constitutional Convention in 2004. 100 Year 11 students from around New South Wales were carefully selected to debate constitutional law issues at New South Wales Parliament House. This marked achievement sowed the seeds of interest in law and justice for Ivan.

Ivan graduated from Macquarie Fields in 2005, having completed his final year 12 examinations, the Higher School Certificate, achieving a final mark of 97.80 as his UAI. The Principal's office described Ivan to have "displayed strong leadership skills through his election as Student Representative Council member at school and District levels". Ivan was awarded the honour of being a distinguished achiever at a ceremony by then-mayor of Campbelltown, Russel Matheson.

He began tertiary studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, in 2006, studying a combined double degree of Law/Arts in International Studies. Within International Studies, Ivan's chosen country of major is Italy, thus he is fluent in Italian having formerly studied it in Perth as a child and currently at university.

During his university years, Ivan's activities have helped elevate UTS' good name and reputation, and furthermore enhanced it.

Ivan was elected secretary, of the UTS United Nations Society(elected as Publications Officer in 2007), worked actively for UTS Student Association “Smash Racism” Collective and participated in the Tandem Program which assists international students. Ivan was trained in Communication and Leadership, for the position of a Peer Network Leader, conducting university orientations for new students.

Ivan frequently participated in debating at university in 2009, and was selected out of the entire university along with another, to represent UTS at the World Universities Debating Championships in Turkey, however his debating partner cancelled at the last moment.

Having had been a migrant as a child, Ivan has always felt compassion for migrants and refugees. To that end, he has worked for the Australian League for Immigration Volunteers since 2007, assisting recent migrants and refugees adjust to Australian life.

In 2008 and 2009, Ivan was a finalist of the Japanese Airlines(JAL) Study Tour scholarship.

In 2009, Ivan wrote an essay and was awarded a scholarship by the Sydney branch of the German Academic Exchange Office. This scholarship was for a European Law, Affairs and Politics course called "Encounter Europe - Visit Germany", which included a stipend, a two week lodging and board at the European Academy in Otzenhausen, Germany. The scholarship also included free study trips to former East German capital Bonn. Other trips included in the scholarship included Trier, Strasbourg in France - visiting the European Parliament, and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as Luxembourg, where the European Court of Justice is located.

'''3. Legal '''

Studying law, Ivan has always taken an active interest in legal affairs and issues of justice. Inspired by his role models, academics Michelle Sanson and Geoff Holland, Ivan has competed in Mooting and Negotiation competitions, as well as presenting conference style papers to academics.

He has worked closely with the UTS Law Students' Society, frequently writing for the legal publication The Full Bench, on topics such as cybercrime and human rights. Ivan has also worked extensively in the legal community. Since his first semester at university, Ivan has assisted the New South Wales Bar Association with their mock trials, assisting the process of training newly admitted barristers.

Geoff Holland, constitutional law lecturer at UTS, has described Ivan as "motivated" and demonstrating an "outsanding capacity for both achievement in both his academic and extra-curricula activities that set him above the average student".

Ivan worked as a paralegal for several months at a building and construction law firm, Baker McDonell Lawyers, during which he performed legal tasks such as drafting affidavits, managing client files, liasing with clients and the Supreme Court of NSW, and general office duties.

'''4. Acting and modelling '''

Ivan has modelled extensively between 2006-2009, commercially and voluntarily. He has modelled for university brochures, advertising the degree courses. He has modelled in the UTS Undergraduate Prospectuses 2007-2009, UTS Law Awards Prospectus 2007, UTS Annual Report, UTS Law Website, UTS Law Graduate Attributes Handbook.

Ivan auditioned for the role of the Devil, a main character in the play Children of Destiny, by Los Angeles director, Alexis Edelman. Winning the part, Ivan performed to good reviews.

Ivan has acted in several independent films, namely "Fernando"(portraying a Mexican drug addict), and "Election"(playing a virile teacher attracted to his female student). In addition, Ivan recently acted in a film portraying a racially vilified Pakistani university student in Ballarat. Ivan enjoys acting immensely.

'''5. Journalism '''

During 2009, Ivan took an interest, and gained experience in the journalism industry, already being interested in the world around him, and international events.

Ivan worked as an International Freelance Journalist at the International Business Times for six months. International Business Times is an international newspaper based in New York, with worldwide branches. Ivan freelanced for the Sydney branch, under editor-in-chief, James Kong. Ivan's articles and works have frequently been cited and discussed thoroughly on a variety of niche websites and mass media, which Ivan describes as "the greatest honour of all".

Ivan was initially to cover topic areas such as Freelance Journalist at the International business, automobiles, transport, media, internet and technology. Soon however, Ivan covered a diverse range of areas, including events of internatioanl scale, such as health(covering the outbreak of Swine flu in Australia and the rest of the globe), the deaths of Michael Jackson and David Carradine, international and national child neglect, and much more.

James Kong, editor-in-chief, has described Ivan as "creative and active in performance" with an "outsanding" capacity for journalism.

Ivan has written for the Law Students Society publication at university, The Full Bench, covering areas such as human rights and internet crime among others. He has also written for the University of Sydney Undergraduate International Affairs magazine, The Sydney Globalist.

'''6. Personal life '''

Ivan is currently single. He has three siblings. A sister, and two brothers, all younger than himself.