Asad Shan is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

actor, fashion model, TV presenter, and producer/director. He was formerly an investment banker, having worked for RBS (ABN AMRO) and

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. He was crowned Mr. Asia UK, beating 20 contestants in the process. The film 7 Welcome to London was both his acting and directorial debut. It received critical and commercial acclaim after its UK release and has gone on to become the most successful British-made

Hindi language Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ''li ...

film in the UK.
Shan's other notable appearances include being a veejay for

B4U Music B4U Music is an India & Worldwide free to air music television channel owned by the B4U Network Limited. The channel broadcasts a mixture of contemporary Bollywood, Indipop, Bhangra and international music. Programs include celebrity intervie ...

, and he is currently on

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

's Zing as a host for the weekend film show ''Brits Bollywood'', as well as the daily rude tube show, ''Grinds My Teeth''. Shan has starred in many

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit film school and Drama school, acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles metropolitan ar ...

productions, and

Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by the actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Str ...

productions of the well-renowned East is East and

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mo ...

. He has recently endorsed campaigns for major brands like Sky Digital, HSBC, and most recently One for the Boys, a charity chaired by Samuel L. Jackson.

Early life

Asad was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His grandparents moved to London from Jhelum in the 1940s. He studied at Brentwood School in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He then studied law and management at university. Asad grew up supporting

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

and is an avid tennis and football player.

Career

Upon graduating with a degree in law and management, he worked as an investment banker in the city of London for two years in Corporate Broking and ECM. Asad won the Mr. Asia UK competition and inspired by this win, he went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to train in

method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...

at the

and in Film Performance at the

. he then moved from the

Big Apple "The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the '' New York Morning Telegraph''. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by t ...

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 to begin work in

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 ...

. Within a few months after his move to

he was seen on the runways at Indian Fashion Week as well as being an ambassador for top fashion labels and eventually became one of the most sought-after veejays for

. In 2009 he was named the 'Best & Sexiest VJ' at the music channel. He fronted popular shows like "Just Request", "Star Stop", "Flash" and "India's Top Ten". Eventually seeing an opportunity and growth in the UK market, Asad shifted his base back to London from Bombay where he started a film production company ''Iconic Productions UK Limited''. He worked on the company's debut venture, a

thriller film titled 7 Welcome to London. He played Jai in the starring role. The film was set in London and had a UK-wide release on 9 March 2012. In the 2016 film London Life, he played the protagonist Raj. The English film is set in London and is about Indian students who migrate to the UK and the problems they face. Since 2011, he is UK's most popular & recognised face on

's music channel Zing as a host for ''Brits Bollywood'' and UK's first Asian Rude Tube show " Grinds My Teeth" which has gathered a huge response in the UK Shan has hosted a daily request show ''Rock The Vibe'' in the past for Zing. Asad also dabbled as a creative producer for the Black Arts company in Soho London and has been the creator and host of "The Film Show" on Zing TV from 2015 to 2018, which is an Iconic production, and commissioned by Zee TV. Asad started filming his first drama serial called "Aabgeenay" written by Qaisra Hayat and directed by Nadeem Siddique. This shoot started in Karachi in 2018 and after 70% of shoot, it was put on hold due to the ceasing of production house. 2023 saw Asad make a special appearance in An Action Hero ( Netflix ) and 2024 saw the release of Tell me about it on Amazon Prime, where Asad plays the lead role. Currently Asad is writing his next directional feature. 2024 saw the release of Asad's next feature role, Tell me about it. This British feature film was set in Bradford. Directed by British Pakistani film director Suman Hanif, it had its grand premiere at the Bradford Science Museum and is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Personal life

Asad plays tennis at the UK county level. He loves outdoor sports and is a keen hiker. He loves foreign cinema especially French and South Korean.

Filmography

Theatre productions

Television

Commercials

Modelling

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shan, Asad Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British male models English male film actors English male stage actors English male models English people of Pakistani descent British actors of Pakistani descent Kashmiri people