Early and personal life

John Abraham was born to a Malayali father and a Zoroastrian mother. His father, Abraham John, is an architect from Aluva, Kerala; his mother is Firoza Irani. Abraham's Persian name is "Farhan" while his father being a Marthomite Syrian Christian named him "John." He has a sister Susy Mathew and a younger brother Alan Abraham. Abraham studied at Bombay Scottish School in Mumbai. He got his bachelor's degree in economics from Jai Hind College. Abraham also received an MBA from Mumbai Education Trust.

During the filming of Jism in 2002, Abraham began to date his co-star Bipasha Basu. They were in a relationship until early 2011. Whilst together, the two were often referred to as a supercouple in the Indian media. He is now married to Priya Runchal, an NRI financial analyst and investment banker from the USA but native to McLeodganj, whom he met in Mumbai, in December 2010. Abraham is an agnostic atheist.

Career

Modeling

John Abraham started his modelling career appearing in the music video of the song "Surma" by Punjabi singer Jazzy B. He then joined a media firm Time & Space Media Entertainment Promotions Ltd., which however closed because of financial problems. Later, he worked for Enterprises-Nexus as a media planner. In 1999, he won the Gladrags Manhunt Contest and went to the Philippines for Manhunt International, where he runner up second place. he later modelled in Hong Kong, London and New York City. He also appeared in a number of commercial advertisements and in other music videos for singers including Pankaj Udhas, Hans Raj Hans and Babul Supriyo. To improve his acting skills, Abraham joined the Kishore Namit Kapoor acting laboratory and completed an acting course while juggling modelling assignments.

Debut and struggle

Abraham made his acting debut with Jism in 2003, an erotic thriller film which according to Box Office India, was "Average" grossing 1,3,250,000 Rs. He portrayed the role of Kabir Lal, a poor, alcoholic and wayward lawyer who falls in love with Sonia Khanna (played by Bipasha Basu), a wife of a travelling millionaire, who plots to kill her own husband with the company of Kabir. The film met with mixed to positive reviews. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama commented, "Supermodel John Abraham makes a confident debut. The actor rises beyond his looks and registers a strong impact with his performance, more so towards the second half. His dashing looks and excellent physique only add to his persona".

In the same year, Abraham appeared in Anurag Basu's horror paranormal romance film Saaya along-side Tara Sharma and Mahima Chaudhary. The film garnered the mixed to negative reviews, which underperformed at the box-office. Taran Adarsh wrote, "Saaya clearly belongs to John. No two opinions on that! Enacting a very difficult role, the newcomer actually performs like a veteran and delivers a performance that's bound to win him nominations in the awards categories. His growth as an actor is tremendous!"

In 2004, he appeared in Pooja Bhatt's directorial debut film Paap along-side Udita Goswami. He portrayed the role of Shiven, a police officer, who falls for a buddhist girl kaaya. The film underperformed at the box-office receiving mixed reviews, also was premiered at the Kara Film Festival.

Same year, he appeared in Ahmed Khan's film Lakeer - Forbidden Lines, co-starring Nauheed Cyrusi with other stars like Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty and Sohail Khan, which also underperformed at the box office.

Breakthrough

In 2004, He played the role of Kabir, the main antagonist in Dhoom, an action film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi and produced by Yash Raj Films, multi-starring Abhishek Bachchan, Esha Deol, Uday Chopra and Rimi Sen. The film was the third highest grossing film of the year., which gained him a Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination.

In 2005 he starred in the supernatural thriller Kaal and the comedy Garam Masala both of which did well at the box office. Later that year, he had a role in Water, which portrayed the tragic fate of Hindu widows in British India of the 1930s. The film was written and directed by independent Canadian film-maker Deepa Mehta. It was popular internationally, and was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Academy Awards. Abraham attended the ceremony along with the film's crew and makers but the film lost to Germany's The Lives of Others.

In the summer of 2006, Abraham performed at the "Rockstars Concert" along with fellow Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Esha Deol, Shahid Kapoor and Mallika Sherawat. In that same year, he starred in the films Zinda, Taxi No. 9211, Baabul and Kabul Express. Among these Taxi No. 9211 and Kabul Express were substantially successful.

Nikhil Advani's multi-starrer Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love was Abraham's first release in 2007. The movie failed to do well at the Indian box office, though it did well in the overseas markets. His last two 2007 releases included the thriller No Smoking and the sports film Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal.

In 2008, Abraham starred alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra in Dostana, his only release that year. His first release of 2009 was a production by Yash Raj Films, New York.

He has a fashion line— branded JA Clothes — which primarily features his favorite article of clothing, jeans.

In 2010, was seen in the films Aashayein and Jhootha Hi Sahi. Both of the films turned out to be box office failures. Lately, Abraham has appeared in films Force (2011), Desi Boyz (2011), and Housefull 2 (2012). His first film of 2013 was the multi-starrer Race 2 which was commercially successful, though his second release the coming-of-age romantic comedy I, Me Aur Main, under performed at the box office. His next release was Shootout at Wadala, in which he was portraying the role of gangster Manya Surve which gained positive reviews. The film emerged a success at the box office. His latest movie Madras Cafe, which also is a second movie for him as a producer garnered much critical acclaim, also the collections of the movie saw an upward trend after the terrific word of mouth.

Producer

Abraham debuted as a producer was titled Vicky Donor (2012) and the film featured Ayushmann Khurrana, Annu Kapoor and Yami Gautam in lead roles. Abraham also appeared in an item-number for the film. It opened to positive response, and turned out to be a critical and commercial success. His second production, Madras Cafe which is also directed by Shoojit Sircar, opened to overwhelming response from the critics.

Upcoming projects

He has begun work on a crime thriller Mumbai Saga alongside Huma Qureshi and Vivek Oberoi. He started filming for Hera Pheri 3 in March 2015.

Social causes

Abraham takes an interest in PETA and Habitat for Humanity. He donated ₹1 Lakh to the Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, according to his website.

In January 2009, Abraham led a group of Indian celebrities in the Mumbai Marathon, an annual event to benefit the United Way. He did not run the marathon, but encouraged the participants by waving at them from the start line.

In April 2013, on behalf of PETA Abraham wrote a letter to Minister for Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, asking that she make all circuses in India animal-free.

Filmography

Actor

Gold indicates unreleased films

Year	Film	Character Name	Notes
2003	Jism	Kabir Lal	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut
2003	Saaya	Dr.Akash / "Akki"
2004	Aetbaar	Aryan Trivedi	Negative Role
2004	Paap	Shiven
2004	Lakeer - Forbidden Lines	Saahil
2004	Dhoom	Kabir	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
2004	Madhoshi	Aman
2005	Elaan	Abhimanyu
2005	Karam	John
2005	Kaal	Krish Thapar
2005	Viruddh	Amar Patwardhan
2005	Water	Narayan
2005	Garam Masala	Shyam / "Sam"
2005	Shikhar	Himself	Special appearance
2006	Zinda	Rohit Chopra	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
2006	Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna	DJ	Special appearance in the song "Where's The Party Tonight?"
2006	Taxi No. 9211	Jai Mittal
2006	Baabul	Rajat	Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
2006	Kabul Express	Suhel Khan
2007	Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love	Ashutosh Raina
2007	Hattrick	Himself	Special appearance in the song "Wicket Bacha"
2007	No Smoking	K
2007	Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal	Sunny Bhasin
2008	Dostana	Kunal Chopra
2009	Luck by Chance	Himself	Special appearance
2009	Little Zizou	Arjun	Special appearance
2009	New York	Samir / "Sam"
2010	Aashayein	Rahul Sharma
2010	Jhootha Hi Sahi	Sid
2011	7 Khoon Maaf	Jimmy Stetson
2011	Mere Brother Ki Dulhan	Himself	Special appearance
2011	Force	ACP Yashvardhan/ACP Yash/Yash
2011	Desi Boyz	Nick Mathur / "Hunter"
2012	Housefull 2	Max
2012	Vicky Donor	Himself	Special appearance in the song "Rum Whisky"
2013	Race 2	Armaan Malik	Negative Role
2013	I, Me, aur Main	Ishaan Sabharwal
2013	Shootout at Wadala	Manya Surve
2013	Madras Cafe	Vikram Singh
2015	Welcome Back	Ajju Bhai
2016	Wazir	SP	Cameo
2016	Rocky Handsome	Kabir Ahlawat/ Rocky/ Handsome
2016	M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story	Himself	Special Appearance
2016	Dishoom	Kabir	Filming
2016	Hera Pheri 3	Raju Duplicate	Filming
2016	Force 2	ACP Yashvardhan/ACP Yash/Yash	Filming
TBA	Mumbai Saga	TBA	Pre-production

Producer

Year	Film	Notes
2012	Vicky Donor	National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Film
2013	Madras Cafe
2016	Rocky Handsome
2016	Satra Ko Shaadi Hai	Filming

Awards and nominations

Film awards

Year	Function	Award	Film	Won
2013	National Film Awards	National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment	Vicky Donor	Yes
2013	Asiavision Awards	Icon of India for his contribution to Indian cinema as an actor and producer	For All films	Yes
2013	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Film	Vicky Donor	No
2008	Star Screen Awards	Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1	Dostana	Yes
2007	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor	Baabul	No
2007	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Villain Award	Zinda	No
2007	Zee Cine Awards	Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role	Zinda	No
2007	Bollywood Movie Awards	Bollywood Movie Award - Best Supporting Actor	Baabul	No
2006	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role	Zinda	No
2006	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Supporting Actor Award	Garam Masala	No
2006	Global Indian Film Awards	GIFA Best Villain	Zinda	No
2005	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role	Dhoom	No
2005	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Villain Award	Dhoom	Yes
2005	Zee Cine Awards	Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role	Dhoom	Yes
2005	Stardust Awards	Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Male	Paap	Yes
2004	Filmfare Awards	Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut	Jism	No
2004	Bollywood Movie Awards	Bollywood Movie Award - Best Male Debut	Jism	Yes

Other recognitions

Year	Award	Won	Notes
2006	Rajiv Gandhi Award for his achievement in Bollywood	Yes
2007	Giant International Awards for his contribution to Indian cinema	Yes
2008	Sexiest Asian Man	Yes
2009	Lions Club Award	Yes
2011	India's Sexiest Bachelor by the BIG CBS PRIME	Yes
2012	Most Stylish Man - GQ Awards (India)	Yes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]