Ayad Akhtar

David Waterman (Université de La Rochelle)

Ed. by Muneeza Shamsie, Independent Scholar - Asia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.5: South Asian Diasporic Literature and Culture, 1800-present.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

Born 28 Oct 1970
Activity 2012-ongoing

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Cultural Identities

South Asian American

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist

Other

Fiction

Resources

Akhtar's Works

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Ayad Akhtar, novelist, playwright and actor, was born on 28 October 1970 in New York City. Both his parents were doctors and had migrated from Pakistan to the United States. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Brown University, majoring in theatre and religion, then moved to Italy and spent a year working with acting theorist and pioneer Jerzy Grotowski, author of

Towards a Poor Theater

(1968). After returning to the US, Akhtar continued at Columbia University, earning a degree in directing from the Graduate Film Program, while teaching acting and working alongside Andre Gregory, the French-born actor and director, in New York City and Vienna, Austria.

Akhtar’s 2005 film The War Within literally sets the stage regarding the themes that would become the foundation of his

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2595 words

Citation: Waterman, David. "Ayad Akhtar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 December 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14529, accessed 21 November 2024.]