Ali Fazal is going places ahead of the September release of his Hollywood film, Victoria & Abdul, co-starring Judi Dench. The actor will be seen in his first international lead role in the film directed by Stephen Frears.
Now, he is named by Variety, one of Hollywood’s leading online trade websites, as one of the ‘10 Actors to Watch for 2017’. The other nine are actresses Grace Van Patten, Hong Chau, Danielle Macdonald and actors Timothée Chalamet, Kiersey Clemons, Daveed Diggs, Daniel Kaluuya, Barry Keoghan and Kumail Nanjiani.
The online magazine wrote of Fazal that he was the star of Hindi films like Fukrey (2013) and Khamoshiyan (2015) and made his Hollywood debut with Furious 7 (2015).
Victoria & Abdul will have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in late August and will also be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is held a week after Venice.
Fazal acknowledged the honour on Twitter and wrote, “Thank you so much Variety.. @jenelleriley . Thats very kind. I look forward to the year and many more years.”
The actor attended the annual Hollywood Foreign Press Association dinner in Los Angeles alongside Hollywood talent like Sir Patrick Stewart, Elizabeth Moss, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Armie Hammer, Chrissy Metz and Indian actress Sridevi. Fazal got an opportunity to meet his acting idol, Dustin Hoffman.