Moin Akhter

Moin Akhter (Urdu: معین اختر; 24 December 1950 – 22 April 2011) was a Pakistani television, film and stage artist, humorist, comedian, impersonator, host, writer, singer, director and producer who rose to fame in the era of Radio Pakistan along with his co-actors Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari. He became an icon through his screen persona Rozi and is considered to be a one-of-a-kind parodist and the king of Urdu comedy. His career spanned more than 45 years, from childhood in the Radio Pakistan era to work of great renown on television, film and stage until a year before his death in 2011.

Akhter was born in Karachi, Pakistan on 24 December 1950.

His father Muhammad Ibrahim Mehboob, who died at the age of 92, a few months following Akhter's death, was born in Muradabad (in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India) and, following the 1947 partition, settled in Karachi, where he "passed his life in his own printing press and as a contractor in the garments business."

Akhter was fluent in several languages, including English, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Memoni, Pashto, Gujarati apart from his native Urdu.

Before joining the performing arts, Akhter worked as a mechanic.

Akhter started his acting career as child actor at the age of 13. He played the character of Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in theatre.

Akhter's sense of humour was highly dynamic and versatile. He made his television debut on 6 September 1966, in a variety show on Pakistan Television (PTV) to celebrate the first Defence Day of Pakistan. He started as a comedian in 1966 by impersonating the Hollywood actor Anthony Quinn and mimicked one of the former USA's president John F Kennedy's speeches. He has performed several roles in television stage shows, later teamed with Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari.

Akhter acted in several films, sitcoms and dramas, and hosted many TV talk shows, including: