Background
Akhtar was born in Staten Island, New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Akhtar was born in Staten Island, New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
After growing up in Milwaukee, he attended Brown University where he majored in theater. After graduation he moved to Italy and studied acting with Jerzy Grotowski for a year.
Akhtar then returned to the United States, where he would teach acting classes with Andre Gregory and earn his Master of Arts degree in directing from Columbia University School of the Arts. Akhtar starred in the film playing Hassan, the would-be terrorist. In 2011 he played Neel Kashkari in the Home Box Office film Too Big to Fail.
The play"s New York cast included Aasif Mandvi, Heidi Armbruster, Erik Jensen and Karen Pittman.
Disgraced opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on October 23, 2014. The cast included Hari Dhillon, Gretchen Mol, Josh Radnor, and Karen Pittman.
His play, The Invisible Hand, opened Office-Broadway at the New York Theater hop on December 7, 2014. The play had its world premiere at Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis in March 2012 and was produced at ACT Theatre, Seattle in September 2014.
In association with ACT Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland presented the play in March 2015.
lieutenant will be performed at the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, California in June 2016. Akhtar"s first novel, American Dervish, was published by Little Brown Publishing in January 2012 to positive reviews from critics. He is working on his second novel.