Mehrun Nissa Hassan, commonly known as Mehr Hassan, is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

actress, model, and classical dancer.

Personal life and education

Hassan is the daughter of religious theologian

Riffat Hassan Riffat Hassan (born 1943) is a Pakistani-American theologian and a leading Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an. Early life and career Hassan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to a Sayid Muslim family. Hassan's maternal grandfather was Hakim ...

. She was born to a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

mother and an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

father. Mehr is settled in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, though she has performed in films in India and Pakistan, as well. She received her master's degree from the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

Career

Hassan started her dancing career as a stage performer in the United States. During her college years, she visited India during summer breaks and began her film career in a Tamil film called ''Anbe Diana'', in which she played the title character. During her stay in India, she also studied acting at the

Kishore Namit Kapoor Kishore Namit Kapoor (born 1949) is an Indian actor, author and acting teacher. He has trained some of the most prominent film and television actors of the Hindi industry including Allu Arjun, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Ra ...

Institute. She continued to work in films while in college, including the award-winning films, ''Diwali'' and ''Dreams''. It was on the set of ''Diwali'' that

Samina Peerzada Samina Peerzada (, Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a Pakistani film and television actress, producer and director. She was a popular model in 1970s. She is one of the most popular actress of her time and was one of the most successful actress o ...

approached her for her film, '' Shararat'', which was filmed in Pakistan and released in 2003. She has also appeared in the films, ''The Gold Bracelet'' (2006) and ''Heart Land'' (2009). Hassan is an accomplished dancer and has worked in award-winning music videos as a dancer and director.

Partial filmography

Music videos

* Directed and performed (vocals and dance) in ''Kuch Nahi Terey Bin'' * Co-directed and performed (vocals and dance) in ''Man Mohna'' (My Spirit) * Performed (vocals and dance) in ''Piya Nain Milla''

References

External links

* * * * Living people Pakistani film actresses Pakistani emigrants to the United States University of Louisville alumni American film actresses Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistani female models Actresses from Lahore 21st-century Pakistani actresses American female dancers American models of Pakistani descent American female models of Indian descent Dancers from Kentucky {{Louisville-stub