Zia Mohyeddin

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Birth name Zia Mohyeddin
Birth 20 june 1931
Death 13 february 2023 (at 91 years)

Zia Mohyeddin (Urdu: ضیاء محی الدین‎; born June 20, 1933) is a Pakistani actor, producer, director and television broadcaster who has appeared in both Pakistani cinema and British cinema throughout his career.

He was born in Faisalabad, British India (now in Pakistan). He passed his early life in Karachi. He was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London from 1953-1956. After stage roles in Long Day's Journey Into Night and Julius Caesar, he made his West End debut in A Passage to India in 1960. He made his film debut in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), playing the role of Tafas (the Arab guide who is shot by Omar Sharif for drinking water from the wrong well). He then made numerous TV and film appearances, and starred as Dr Aziz in the BBC's television version of A Passage to India (Play of the Month, 1965). His first wife was known as Sarwar Zamaan or Sarwar Mohyeddin and with her, he had 2 sons.

He returned to Pakistan in the late 1960s. There he founded and ran the PIA Arts and Dance Academy, and hosted his own TV talk show. Around this time, he met and subsequently (in 1973) married the classical dancer Naheed Siddiqui. However after difficulties with the regime Mohyeddin returned to England in the late 1970s, shortly followed by his wife. During the 1980s Zia worked in Birmingham, Great Britain, where he produced Central Television's flagship multicultural programme Here and Now.

He has since traveled the world giving Urdu poetry and prose recitations, and is considered the foremost reader of Urdu literature. In addition, he is also famed for his readings of English letters and literature. In the late 1990s, Mohyeddin remarried, and had a daughter with his wife, Azra. In February 2005 President Pervez Musharraf invited Mohyeddin to act as Chairman of the new National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi.

To this date, despite his growing age, Zia is still active among Pakistani media as a speaker and hosts several TV programes both for National and Private Channels.

Biography

Formé à la Royal Academy of Dramatic Art de Londres (Angleterre), entre 1953 et 1956, il débute au théâtre en 1957 au Royaume-Uni, avant un premier rôle d'importance à Londres, celui du Docteur Aziz, dans Route des Indes (A Passage to India) en 1960, rôle qu'il reprendra en 1962 aux États-Unis, dans son unique prestation à Broadway (New York), puis dans une adaptation à la télévision britannique en 1965.

Au cinéma, il débute en 1962 dans Lawrence d'Arabie.

À la télévision, il apparaît pour la première fois en 1956 dans une série télévisée consacrée au théâtre. On le verra ensuite dans plusieurs séries britanniques bien connues (Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir, Destination danger...).

À la fin des années 1960, il repart au Pakistan où il créera et dirigera une Académie d'art dramatique et de danse, avant de retourner au Royaume-Uni à la fin des années 1970, les difficultés politiques de son pays contrecarrant notamment les activités artistiques. Il reviendra néanmoins au Pakistan, à la faveur de meilleures conditions d'existence, et vit actuellement à Lahore.

Usually with

Marne Maitland
(3 films)

Omar Sharif
(3 films)

Richard Harvey
(3 films)

David Lean
(1 films)

Usha Uthup
(1 films)