Zia Mohyeddin

Who is Zia Mohyeddin?

Zia Mohyeddin is a Pakistani actor, narrator, producer, director and television broadcaster who has appeared in both Pakistan and British cinema throughout his career.

He was born in Faisalabad, British India in a Urdu speaking family. 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 in 1961, playing the role of Tafas. He then made numerous TV and film appearances, and starred as Dr Aziz in the 1965 BBC television version of A Passage to India.

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 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.