Alyy Khan (born 6 December 1968) is a

British-Pakistani British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are Britons or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakist ...

actor and host who has worked in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

, and

Lollywood Lollywood is Pakistan's film industry, which has served as the base for both Urdu- and Punjabi-language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since independence in 1947. However, with the Urdu film hub largel ...

films and television series. He is known for his roles in the films '' A Mighty Heart'' (2007), ''

Traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

'' (2008), ''

Don 2 ''Don 2: The King Is Back'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi language action thriller film written, co-produced and directed by Farhan Akhtar. It is the second installment in the '' Don reboot series''. Jointly produced by Excel Entertainment and Red ...

'' (2011), ''

3 Bahadur ''3 Bahadur'' () is a 2015 Pakistani animated adventure film produced and directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. It is the first installment in the '' 3 Bahadur'' franchise. The film is co-produced by Waadi Animations which is a joint-venture of ...

'' (2015), '' Actor in Law'' (2016), and '' Mogul Mowgli'' (2020), and also played a parallel lead in the telefilm '' Anjuman'' (2013). Khan has also appeared in several television series, including ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'' (2006), '' Strike Back'' (2011), ''

Saat Pardon Mein ''Saat Pardon Mein'' () is a 2012 Pakistani romantic fantasy drama television series aired on Geo TV every Friday. The series is written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah and directed by Yasir Nawaz, with Noor ul Huda Shah serving as the project head. Th ...

'' (2012), ''

Indian Summers ''Indian Summers'' is a British drama television series that began airing on Channel 4 on 15 February 2015. The show details the events of summers spent at Simla (the summer capital of British India), in the foothills of the Himalayas, by a gro ...

'' (2015), ''

Pakeezah Pakeezah (; ) is a 1972 Indian musical romantic drama written, directed, and produced by Kamal Amrohi. The film stars Meena Kumari as the eponymous lead, alongside Ashok Kumar and Raaj Kumar. It tells the story of Sahibjaan, a Lucknow-base ...

'' (2016), ''

Mere Humsafar ''Mere Humsafar'' () is a 1970 Hindi-language romance film, produced by Yusuf Teendarwajawala under the Labela Films banner and directed by Dulal Guha. It stars Jeetendra and Sharmila Tagore, with music composed by Kalyanji Anandji. Plot The fi ...

'' (2022) and ''Mohabbat Satrangi'' (2024). In 2012, Khan hosted the television reality show '' Foodistan'' for

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

and

Geo TV Jang Media Group (), also known as Geo Group, is a Pakistani media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Dubai-based company Independent Media Corporation. It has headquarters in Printing House, Karachi. It is the publisher of the Urdu language new ...

. His recent work credits include ''The Serpent'' (2020) on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, ''Shantaram'' (2022) on Paramount/Apple + TV, and ''

The Archies The Archies are an American fictional rock band featured in media produced by, and related to, Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series '' The Archie Show''. In the context of the series, the band ...

'' (2023) on Netflix.

Early life and education

Khan was born in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan. After his parents divorced, Khan moved with his mother to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and then to his maternal grandmother's home in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India when he was about ten years old. He received his education at

Bombay Scottish School The Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, popularly known as Scottish, is a private, Christian co-educational day school located at Mahim West in Mumbai, India. The institution was established in 1847 by Scottish Christian missionaries under the name ...

in Mumbai. He studied drama under the guidance of Hima Devi, who was affiliated with Trinity College, London, through the Hima Kala Kendra in Mumbai. Khan also holds a diploma in film and television production from Pimlico Arts and Media College in London. The late singer-turned-

Islamic preacher Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number 2 billion worldwide and are the world's second-largest religious populatio ...

Junaid Jamshed Junaid Jamshed Khan (3 September 1964 – 7 December 2016) was a Pakistani Islamic preacher, singer-songwriter and television personality. Jamshed first gained nationwide and international recognition as the vocalist of Vital Signs. Their ...

was his cousin. Fluent in English, Urdu and Hindi, he has also a working knowledge of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Career

Actor

Khan started his career in the early 1990s in Indian television shows and later theatrical Indian films. He is known for his roles in the films '' A Mighty Heart'' (2007), ''

'' (2008), ''

'' (2011), ''

'' (2006), '' Strike Back'' (2011), ''

'' (2012), ''

'' (2015), and ''

'' (2016). Recent acting credits include ''The Serpent'' (2020) on Netflix, ''Shantaram'' (2022) on Paramount/Apple + TV, and ''

'' (2022) on Netflix India.

Host

From 2012 to 2013, Khan hosted the cooking game show '' Foodistan'', where

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

s from both India and Pakistan competed, broadcast simultaneously on

and

Theatre director

In 2013, Khan directed a play, ''Aapki Soniya'', starring

Sajid Hasan Syed Sajid Hasan (born 1958) is a Pakistani actor, screenwriter, film director, TV hosts, and film producer. He has demonstrated political ambitions, but has not achieved significant success. As an actor he is best-known for his comic role of ...

and

Mehwish Hayat Mehwish Hayat (born 6 January 1988) is a Pakistani actress who primarily works in Urdu films, and formerly, in television. She made her debut in the film with the comedy ''Jawani Phir Nahi Ani'' (2015) and later went on to become an '' Actor ...

, staged in

's NAPA.

Brand ambassador

Khan is also engaged in philanthropy and currently serves as the Brand Ambassador of Crossadder Foundation, a 'for youth, by youth' NGO working on awareness, advocacy, and action. Crossadder Foundation is the caretaker of Master Ayub School and facilitates the education of street children.

Filmography

Films

Television

Webseries

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Alyy Khan
on the Hollywood {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Alyy Living people 1968 births British male film actors British male television actors Male actors from London Male actors in Hindi cinema British expatriates in India British expatriate actors in India Expatriate male actors in India British actors of Pakistani descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Muhajir people People educated at Pimlico Academy