John Abraham - Bollywood Celebrity, Actor

Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, John Abraham is one of the most successful male models in India. John grew up in a middle class family. His father Abraham John is a Syrian Christian (Nasrani/Nazranee) from Aluva, Kerala, India and his mother Firoza Irani is a Zoroastrian Parsi from India's Parsi community. His father is an architect and his mother is a homemaker and charity worker. He has a younger brother named Alan Abraham. John's Parsi name given to him by his mother's family is Farhan. Being a Syrian Christian from Kerala, his father gave him John, a biblical name, as his first name and Abraham as his last name from the Nasrani naming system by receiving the father's first name as a last name. A Syrian Christian person from Kerala receives their surname from their paternal grandfather, father, or family house.

John got his bachelors degree in honors economics from Bombay Scottish School, Mahim in Mumbai and got his MBA from the Mumbai Educational Trust (MET). As a student, he was just a bit above average, and was always in the top 15 in his class. He was the captain of his soccer team at Bombay Scottish School. He also ran track, where he was a champion in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. He trained in Tae Kwon Do under master Javed Khan.

After college, he worked as a media planner at Enterprise Nexus. His big break came when he entered the Gladrags Manhunt competition in March of 1999. He almost missed the deadline, but luckily, he was allowed in. John won Gladrags Manhunt and went on to compete for Gladrags Manhunt International in the Philippines, where he finished first runner-up. After that, he began working on many modeling assignments. He got signed by Cary Models in Singapore and did a fair amount of work there, and later in Hong Kong, London, and New York.

With a name like John Abraham, it gave him a noted stand when he entered the modeling field. His revolutionary looks, macho body, baby smiles, and nice character made him the highest-paid supermodel in India. Being a hot star in the modeling world, he made his film debut in 2003. Not like usual Bollywood heroes who debut in male-oriented action features, he accepted the erotic and emotional Jism (2003). Unfortunately the film did not do well, but his work was noticed widely. Later the same year came the paranormal Saaya (2003) and romantic Paap (2003), neither of which did well at the box office.

His first blockbuster smash hit came in the year 2004 when he played the antihero Kabir in Dhoom (2004).

Indian supermodel

His voice was dubbed by another actor in his first film Jism (2003).

Is a vegetarian

Is half Malayali and half Parsi: Father is a Christian from Kerala, mother belongs to India's Parsi community.

Was approached by Rajiv Rai for the lead role in Asambhav (2004).

Before he went to modeling he was working as a media planner for an ad agency.

Turned down the role of Rohan in Nazar (2005).

"I was slightly disheartened when three of my films didn't work at the box-office.But the silver lining is that people did appreciate my work in those films. Had my performance gone unnoticed, I would've been in big trouble then".

I don't have a problem being labeled a sex symbol though I personally don't feel very sexy about myself. There's no harm in my creating a niche for myself in a certain bracket.

My greatest strength as an actor is that I follow my director's brief completely. The film is always the director's visual baby.

I have no inhibitions when it comes to showing off my physique, but appearing nude on screen is out of the question. I don't need to resort to it and definitely not at this stage of my career.