American actor and playwright
Ayad Akhtar (born October 28, 1970) is an American playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. He has received numerous accolades including the 2013Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as nominations for twoTony Awards .
Akhtar is known as a playwright covering various themes including theAmerican -Muslim experience,racism ,religion ,economics ,immigration , andidentity . For his work onBroadway , Akhtar receivedTony Award for Best Play nominations forDisgraced (2015) andJunk (2017). He also authored the playsThe Who & The What ,The Invisible Hand andMcNeal . His plays have been produced onBroadway ,off-Broadway , and inLondon .
He earned acclaim for authoring two novelsAmerican Dervish (2012) andHomeland Elegies (2020). He received numerous awards including theAmerican Book Award for the later. He co-wrote and starred in the political drama filmThe War Within (2005) for which he was nominated for theIndependent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay . He portrayedNeel Kashkari in theHBO television filmToo Big to Fail (2010).
Early life and education [ edit ] Akhtar was born inStaten Island ,New York City toPakistani parents, and raised inMilwaukee , Wisconsin. His interest in literature was initially sparked in high school.[ 1] Akhtar attendedBrown University , where he majored in theater and religion and began acting and directing student plays.[ 2]
After graduation he moved to Italy to work withJerzy Grotowski , eventually becoming his assistant.[ 3] Upon returning to the United States, Akhtar taught acting alongsideAndre Gregory and earned hisMaster of Fine Arts degree in film directing fromColumbia University School of the Arts .[ 4]
In 2012, Akhtar published his first novelAmerican Dervish , a coming-of-age story about aPakistani-American boy growing up in Milwaukee. The book was met with critical acclaim, described byThe New York Times as "self-assured and effortlessly told."[ 5] [ 6] American Dervish has been published in over 20 languages and was aKirkus Reviews best book of the year. Akhtar's narration of the audio book was nominated for anAudie Award in 2013.[ 7]
Akhtar's first produced play,Disgraced , premiered in 2012 at the American Theater Company in Chicago; it was next staged atLincoln Center Theater in New York.[ 8] [ 9] The play won theObie Award and the 2013Pulitzer Prize for Drama , and premiered at theBush Theatre in London that spring.[ 10] [ 11] The play opened on Broadway at theLyceum Theatre on October 23, 2014, and was nominated for theTony Award for Best Play .[ 12] [ 13]
Akhtar's second play,The Who & The What , premiered atLa Jolla Playhouse in February 2014,[ 14] followed by a run at Lincoln Center Theater in June.The Who & The What has since been produced around the world with notable productions in Berlin, Hamburg, and theBurgtheater in Vienna, Austria.[ 15] The latter production has run for almost two years. Its lead, Austrian film starPeter Simonischek , won theNestroy Award for Best Actor .[ 16]
Akhtar's third playThe Invisible Hand premiered at theNew York Theatre Workshop in December 2014,[ 17] a production which invited comparison to the work of Shaw, Brecht, and Arthur Miller.[ 18] It won the Obie Award, theJohn Gassner Award, and was nominated for multipleLucille Lortel Awards and theNew York Drama Critics Circle Award . In May 2016, the play premiered in London atThe Tricycle Theatre and received nominations for theEvening Standard andLaurence Olivier awards.[ 19]
In 2016,American Theatre magazine declared Akhtar the most produced playwright in the country.[ 20] [ 21]
Akhtar's fourth play,Junk , premiered on Broadway at theVivian Beaumont Theater , produced by Lincoln Center Theater, on November 2, 2017.[ 22] It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play and was awarded the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama.[ 23] In his final interviewBill Moyers referred toJunk as "not only history but prophecy. A Biblical-like account of who's running America, and how." Moyers added: "Our times at last have found their voice, and it belongs to a Pakistani American: Ayad Akhtar."[ 24]
In 2017, Akhtar won the Steinberg Playwright Award.[ 25] In his acceptance speech at Lincoln Center Theater, later published inThe New York Times , he explained why he believes the theater is more important now than it ever has been:
The theater is an art form scaled to the human, and stubbornly so, relying on the absolute necessity of physical audience, a large part of why theater is so difficult to monetize. It only happens when and where it happens. Once it starts, you can't stop it. It doesn't exist to be paused or pulled out at the consumer's whim. It can't be copied and sold. In a world increasingly lost to virtuality and unreality — the theater points to an antidote. [...] The act of gathering to witness the myths of our alleged origins enacted — this is the root of the theater's timeless magic.[ 26]
Akhtar's second novel,Homeland Elegies , was published in September 2020 by Little, Brown and Company. According to the publisher's press release, the book is drawn from Akhtar's life as the son of Muslim immigrants; he blends fact and fiction to tell a story of belonging and dispossession about the world that9/11 made.[ 27] The New York Times namedHomeland Elegies one of the 10 Best Books of 2020, calling the book "pitch perfect... virtuosic."[ 28] The Washington Post ,Time ,Entertainment Weekly , andPublishers Weekly also named it one of the 10 best books of 2020, with thePost reviewer stating that he would not be "surprised if it wins [Akhtar] a secondPulitzer Prize ."[ 29] [ 30] [ 31] [ 32] Slate ,O ,NPR ,The Economist , andKirkus Reviews namedHomeland Elegies one of the best books of 2020.[ 33] [ 34] [ 35] [ 36] [ 37] Barack Obama named it one of his favorite books of 2020.[ 38] Homeland Elegies was shortlisted for theAndrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction ,[ 39] and won the 2021American Book Award .[ 40] An eight-episode limited series ofHomeland Elegies is in development atFX , starringKumail Nanjiani and adapted by Akhtar andOren Moverman , who will direct all the episodes.[ 41]
Ayad Akhtar served as president ofPEN America from 2020 - 2023.[ 42] In 2021, Akhtar was named New York State Author by theNew York State Writers Institute .[ 43]
In 2023, it was announced that he would co-pen withMatthew Decker the libretto for the stage musical adaptation ofDamien Chazelle 's 2016 filmLa La Land , which will be directed byBartlett Sher , withJustin Hurwitz andPasek & Paul returning as songwriters.[ 44]
In 2024 his latest playMcNeal , surrounding the ethics ofartificial intelligence , was produced onBroadway starringRobert Downey Jr. at theVivian Beaumont Theatre inLincoln Center .[ 45] The play was published inThe Atlantic in December 2024 with a foreword byJeremy Strong .[ 46]
Style and recognition [ edit ] His work has received twoTony Award nominations for Best Play, an Award in Literature from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters [ 47] and theEdith Wharton Citation for Merit in Fiction.[ 48] Akhtar's writing covers themes including the American-Muslim experience, religion and economics, immigration, and identity. In 2015,The Economist wrote that Akhtar's tales of assimilation "are as essential today as the work ofSaul Bellow ,James Farrell , andVladimir Nabokov were in the 20th century in capturing the drama of the immigrant experience."[ 49]
As a playwright
Year Title Role Notes 2002 Life Document 2: Identity Ahmad Directed, Writer; Short film 2005 The War Within Hassan Co-wrote script 2006 Long After Naseer Short 2008 FCU: Fact Checkers Unit Short
Awards and nominations [ edit ] Homeland Elegies
American Dervish
General
Books
Plays
Ashraf Ibrahim Zidan translated Akhtar'sDisgraced into Arabic under the titleAl-Makhzi .[ 88]
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Notes ^ Online version is titled "An American writer for an age of division".
1918–1950 1952–1975 1976–2000 2001–2025
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