Kawa Ada (born June 12, 1980) is an Afghan-Canadian actor, writer and producer. He distinguished himself as a stage actor on Broadway and in Toronto before pursuing a career as a film and television actor and a writer. He is also a dancer, a choreographer, a keynote speaker and a voice actor, most recently known for playing Razaq in '' The Breadwinner''.

Early life

Ada was born on June 12, 1980, in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, Afghanistan, in a Dari-speaking family belonging to the

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

aristocracy. His father was a famous national chess champion. In the midst of the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

, when Ada was but a young child, his family was forced to flee the country. They entered Pakistan as

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

, from where they emigrated to India. His sister Blanesta Ada was then born on May 17, 1983. Growing up there, Ada dreamed of becoming a

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 ...

movie star. The family then illegally moved to Switzerland, where his father was arrested and detained. When Ada was 8 years old, his family finally emigrated to Canada, where they settled in Toronto. In school, he was recognized as a studious and bright kid who was very much involved in student life, and has described his high-school self as a nerd. Ada pursued his higher education in the United-States, where he graduated as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

from the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded o ...

with a BFA in Theatre.

Career

After graduating from the Boston Conservatory, Ada was immediately cast on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

''. He then perfected his Shakespearean skills with the Publick Theatre in plays such as ''

Troilus and Cressida ''The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida'', often shortened to ''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ), is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602. At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forc ...

''. In parallel to this work, Ada came up with an original text based on his personal experiences during the Soviet invasion of his home-country, his difficult journey to relocate and integrate into

Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

and the hurdles of being an Afghan in America following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. This piece, ''The Canny Afghani'', premiered at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2004 as Ada's first one-man show. He would explain that: Back in Canada, Ada made a name for himself during three seasons of the

Shaw Festival The Shaw Festival is a Charitable organization, Charitable theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest repertory theatre company in North America, second only to Canada's Strat ...

, along with parts in productions of The Grand, Canadian Stage and Cahoots Theatre. His performances were appreciated and earned him ''The Shaw Festival Outstanding Newcomer'' award in 2007 and the ''Stage West – Equity Emerging Theatre Artist Award'' the next year. His subsequent role in ''Paper SERIES'' drew further attention and earned him a nomination for a

Dora Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, Dance in Canada, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after ...

. After that, he was cast as a lead in ''My Granny the Goldfish'', after which he was consistently given leading parts. Eventually, he would even be established enough as an actor that he did not have to audition anymore. In 2014, Ada wrote his second play, ''The Wanderers'', which combines comedy, kinky sex, suicide, ghosts, hysteria, nudity and religious imagery, on the backdrop of an otherwise timeless tale of father-son conflict. Although the production of the play by Cahoots Theatre garnered mixed reviews, the depth and richness of the text would soon be rehabilitated and go on to be studied in universities. The same year, Ada released his first short film, ''Jihad Gigolo'', which he wrote, produced and starred in: the story of a young man who makes ends meet by dressing up as a "terrorist call boy" to fulfill the weird fantasies of his clients, until his girlfriend and the Secret Service find out. The movie premiered at the ReelWorld Film Festival where it was received well. The next year, Ada was highly praised for his part in ''

Accidental Death of an Anarchist ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' () is a play by Italian playwright Dario Fo that premiered in 1970. It has been performed across the world in more than forty countries. The play is based on the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and on the death ...

''. Theatre critic Amanda Campbell declared that "Kawa Ada, as the Madman, is a breathtaking tour de force, bursting with energy and words and playful shenanigans that cascade out of him with breakneck speed and formidable urgency.", while Robert Crew of The Star wrote: "Kawa Ada is a marvel in the role. He swaggers, skips, hops into someone’s lap, overacts to the hilt, mugs and wows the audiences with a smile that could melt a Newfoundland iceberg." The performance earned him a

Dora award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, Dance in Canada, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after ...

, and he was named NOW Magazine's ''Toronto's Best Male Actor''. This success was immediately followed, the same year, by another noted performance in ''Bombay Black''. In this play, Ada was cast as Aspara, a young female dancer who makes a living by dancing for men in private. At first, he was reticent to "take away" a role written for a woman, but he was convinced to take on the challenge as an opportunity to question

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

in a

patriarchal society Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

. He choreographed himself the dances, which were deemed "enchanting" and "impossibly ethereal". The hard work that went into Ada's interpretation of Aspara was praised, eventually earning him the ''Toronto Theatre Critics Award'' for Best Male Actor of the Year. In a radio interview, he explained his artistic approach thusly: In December 2016, Ada suffered a leg fracture, which kept him off-stage for some time and put a definitive end to his dancing career. Nevertheless, his work as a playwright and director continued, and in January 2017 he presented ''The Death of Mrs. Gandhi and the Beginning of New Physics (A Political Fantasy)''. In this satiric fusion of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and politics, four powerful women –

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...

and

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

– gather for

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

's funeral, but are hijacked by a time-travelling terrorist. In 2017, Ada lent his voice to Razaq in the animated feature film ''The Breadwinner'', based on the best-selling novel by Deborah Ellis, which had its world premiere at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2017. There were fourteen programs, with the Vanguard and City to City programs both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down by ...

. In addition to his voice performance, Ada was a dialect and accent coach to his fellow actors on set. As of 2018, Ada is a playwright in residence at Tarragon Theatre, where he is working on his next play, ''Finding Islam'', the story of a mother investigating the disappearance of her son, who is suspected to have joined

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

. During this time he has also taught as an acting professor at the

George Brown Theatre School The George Brown Theatre School is a drama school in Toronto, Canada. Providing training in multiple forms and practices of theatre, it is one of the highest-regarded conservatory schools for drama in the country. The school was founded in 1976 as ...

Other careers

In parallel to his stage career, Ada has also worked in higher education administration. He has notably worked in the department of Student Community and Leadership Development at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. As of 2019, he was working at the Student Housing and Hospitality Services at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, first as a Residence Life Manager, before being promoted to Associate Director. As part of this position, he notably launched a podcast on leadership, titled "Are you being served?" In 2023 and 2024, Ada has been appointed to serve on the Renters Advisory Committee, a consultative body of the City of Vancouver tasked with advising the city council on strategic priorities relating to renters, to monitor and respond to the impacts of provincial and federal legislation affecting tenants and to advise the council on enhancing access and inclusion for renters in developing Vancouver policy and civic life. Ada is also a national keynote speaker on issues of diversity, inclusion and motivation. This work as a promoteur of values of diversity and empowerment has also influenced his approach to acting. When talking about the production of David French's famously

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

-rooted play ''Salt-Water Moon'' with actors that were not typical Newfoundlanders, Ada explained: Similarly, in a group interview following the presentation of ''The Breadwinner'' at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

, Ada stressed the political importance of the film:

Personal life

Ada is fluent is

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and English, and also knows

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

and French. Ada identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

. He is a

Trekkie A Trekkie (a portmanteau of "trek" and "junkie") or Trekker is a fan of the ''Star Trek'' franchise, or of specific television series or films within that franchise. The show developed a following shortly after it premiered, with the first fanzi ...

, especially fond of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and used to collect unopened Star Trek figurines. His goddaughter is also an actress. He met her at Factory Theatre, where Ada has been a mentor to younger actors, and the two of them would eventually star together in ''A Christmas Carol''.

Filmography, stage and other works

Film

Television

Writing

Theatre

Awards

, - , style="text-align:center;", 2019 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Kiss of the Spider Woman'' ,

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2016 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Bombay Black'' , Toronto Theatre Critics Award – Best Male Actor of the Year , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2015 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", Kawa Ada , NOW Magazine's Toronto's Best Male Actor , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2015 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' ,

for Outstanding Male Performance , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2014 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''The Wanderers'' , Broadway World Toronto Award for Best Leading Actor , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2013 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Iceland'' , Broadway World Awards for Best Leading Actor , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2013 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", Kawa Ada , NOW Magazine's Toronto's Best Male Actor , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2012 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''My Granny The Goldfish'' , National Post – Robert Cushman's Year's Best Performances , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2011 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Paper Series'' ,

for Outstanding Featured Performer/Ensemble , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2008 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", Kawa Ada , Stage West – Equity Emerging Theatre Artist Award , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2007 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", Kawa Ada , Saunderson Award – The

Outstanding Newcomer ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ada, Kawa Living people Canadian male musical theatre actors Canadian male Shakespearean actors Canadian people of Afghan descent Male actors from Toronto Canadian male television actors 21st-century Canadian male actors Afghan emigrants to Canada Canadian male voice actors Entertainers from Kabul Canadian male film actors Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 1982 births Canadian queer male actors Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Queer dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Dora Mavor Moore Award winners