Ayad Akhtar Biography

Ayad Akhtar (born October 28, 1970) is a Pakistani American playwright, novelist, screenwriter and actor who is best known for his play, Disgraced. The play received the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, and was named the most produced play in America for the 2015-16 Season. Akhtar's work covers various themes including the human condition, love, responsibility, relationships, the American-Muslim experience, economics, immigration, identity, and aspects of culture.

Early life and career

Akhtar was born in Staten Island, New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Akhtar's interest in writing was initially sparked in high school, when a teacher introduced him to European Modernism. Akhtar later attended Brown University where he majored in theater and began acting in student plays. After graduation he moved to Italy and studied acting with Jerzy Grotowski for a year, eventually becoming his assistant. Upon returning to the United States, Akhtar taught acting classes with Andre Gregory and earn his Master of Fine Arts degree in film directing from Columbia University School of the Arts.

While at Columbia he and classmates Tom Glynn and Joseph Castelo formed the idea for The War Within, a 2005 film about an ordinary man radicalized into becoming a terrorist. Akhtar starred in the film playing Hassan, the would-be terrorist. In 2011 he played Neel Kashkari in the HBO film Too Big to Fail.

Akhtar published his first novel, American Dervish in 2012, a coming-of-age story about a Pakistani-American boy, Hayat, growing up in Milwaukee. The book was met with critical acclaim, described by the New York Times as "self-assured and effortlessly told." American Dervish marks the first in a seven-work cycle on the on Muslim-American experience that will include one film, three novels and three plays. Of which one novel (American Dervish) and all three plays (Disgraced, The Who & The What, The Invisible Hand) have been completed.

In 2012, Akhtar returned to the theatre to write his first play, Disgraced. The play premiered at The American Theater Company in Chicago before serving as the inaugural production of the new LCT3/Lincoln Center in New York. The play went on to win the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received a London premiere at the Bush Theatre in London. A new production of the play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on October 23, 2014. The Broadway production was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play in 2015.

Akhtar had two subsequent plays produced, The Who & The What, which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2012 and The Invisible Hand at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in March, 2012. The Who & The What received its New York premiere in May, 2014 at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater followed by the New York premiere of The Invisible Hand at New York Theatre Workshop in December, 2014 These successes led American Theatre magazine to name Akhtar the most produced playwright of the 2016-17 Season, with 18 production of Disgraced nationwide and 21 productions total.

Akhtar is currently working on a new play, Junk: The Golden Age of Debt. Set in the eighties and puts a corporate takeover onstage. The play will receive its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in the summer of 2016.

List of Works

Theatre

• 2016 Junk: The Golden Age of Debt (unpublished)
• 2015 The Invisible Hand. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316324533
• 2014 The Who & The What, Little Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-32449-6
• 2013 Disgraced, Little Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316324465

Books

• 2012

Film and television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	"Life Document 2: Identity"	Ahmad	Directed, wrote script and served as editor
2005	The War Within	Hassan	Co-wrote script
2006	2006 Independent Spirit Awards	Himself	Documentary
	"Long After"	Naseer	Short
2008	"FCU: Fact Checkers Unit"		Short
2011	Too Big to Fail	Neel Kashkari	TV film

Awards

The Invisible Hand

• 2015 OBIE Award
• 2015 Winner Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award
• 2015 Lucille Lortel Nomination for Outstanding Play
• 2012 Nomination for the Steinberg/ACTA Best New Play Award for "The Invisible Hand"

Disgraced

• 2015 Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play
• 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Disgraced
• 2013 OBIE Award
• 2013 Nominated for Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award
• 2013 Nominated for Off Broadway Alliance Awards Best New Play
• 2012 Jeff Award for New Play

American Dervish

• Named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
• Named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year in Toronto
• Named a Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
• Named an O, the Oprah Magazine Book of the Year

The War Within

• 2006 Nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay