Ahmed Ifnaz Firag

Ahmed Ifnaz Firag
Born	(1985-01-12) 12 January 1985 (age 40) Male', Maldives
Nationality	Maldivian
Occupation(s)	Actor, Host, Singer, Photographer, Director
Years active	2019–present
Spouse	Thaathi Adam ​ (m. 2013)​

Ahmed Ifnaz Firag (born 12 January 1985) is a Maldivian film actor, director, singer, television host, fitness instructor and photographer.

Early life

After completing his primary education in Jamaluddin school, Firag enrolled in Majeediyya School for his secondary education.[1] During that time, he considered himself as an "introvert" who was too shy to showcase his acting skills, which made him firmly believe that acting would remain his "unfulfilled dream".[1] After graduation, he worked in several small time jobs until he was a forensic photographer at Maldives Police Service.[1] While serving his time at the police department, he had a keen interest in their annual "entertainment night" show, where he performed dance shows in front of big crowd.[1]

Since Firag had no intention to work at police for a lifetime service, he left the industry after five years of service.[2] In 2010, he started working at a photography studio owned by one of his friends, which gave him the opportunity to feature in an advertisement, by his friend, Ahmed Rilwan, a blogger and reporter.[1] However, due to several personal reasons, they were forced to shut down the studio.[2] A year later, Rilwan further paved Firag's way into the industry by providing him a chance to host a talk show Chill Out with Coke from DhiTV, which was perceived by the audience as a "cool time pass" from the hardcore political contents.[1] After working at DhiTV, he next joined another local TV channel VTV.[1]

Career

While working at VTV, he was featured in director Ilyas Waheed's mini video drama series, Kushuge Hafaraaiy by playing a negative role.[1] Impressed by his performance, Waheed offered him to play the lead role in his debut feature film Bavathi (2019). Apart from playing the role of a fitness instructor, he worked as the project's assistant director.[1] Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics where Ifraz Ali from Dho? applauded Firaq for playing his role to perfection and challenging all recent newcomers.[3] Aminath Luba reviewing from Sun echoed similar sentiments, picking Firag as the "surprising element" from the crew where "he left no room to challenge his acting ability".[4] Following the success, he next collaborated with Waheed for a four-part anthology web series Mazloom which was considered another "recent benchmark project" in the industry.[5] Ahmed Rasheed from MuniAvas praised the performance of Firag who was seen in a "shady role later trying to prove his innocence".[5]

Filmography

Feature film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
2019	Bavathi	Ibu	Also the assistant director	[6]
2023	Nina	News presenter	Special appearance Also the assistant director	[7]
2023	Free Delivery	Firaqbe	Also the assistant director and singer	[8]
2024	Kanbalhi	Akram	Also the co-director, co-producer and co-editor	[9]
2024	Lasviyas	Javee		[10]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
2018	Kushuge Hafaraaiy	Dhanish	Main role	[11]
2021	Mazloom	Ahmed Maahir	Main role in "Chapter 1: Mazloom"	[5]
2022	Dharaka	Nawal	Main role; 8 episodes	[12]
2023	Fandu	Hussain	Main role; 13 episodes	[13]
2023–2024	Yaaraa	Ifnaz	Guest role; "Episode 2 & 50"	[14]

Discography

Year	Film/series	Song	Lyricist(s)	Co-artist(s)
2022	Dharaka	"Dharaka"	Azhan Ibrahim, Asim Ali	Manaal Sadhath
2023	Nina	"Azza"	Mohamed Abdul Ghanee	Mariyam Ashfa
	Free Delivery	"Free Delivery" (Promotional song)	Ilyas Waheed, Asim Ali	Hussain Samah, Aishath Humaisha Yoosuf, Ahmed Sharif
		"You I Ah"		Shaheedha Mohamed
		"Dhuvey Dhuvey"		Ahmed Sharif

References

1. Eeman, Aishath (5 September 2021). "Ifnaz: An ex-introvert, now a star". Dhauru (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
2. Ibrahim, Shamila (2 July 2021). "Ifnaz: Crawling from behind the camera to the lead role". Dho? (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
3. Ali, Ifraz (5 September 2019). "Bavathi: An expermiental wonder". Dho? (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
4. Luba, Aminath (6 September 2019). "Bavathi: Exceeds viewers' expectation". Sun (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
5. Rasheed, Ahmed (28 July 2021). ""Mazloom" a benchmark project". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
6. Rasheed, Ahmed (1 April 2019). "Teaser of Bavathi released". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
7. "Jumayyil has a small role in Nina, will not be part of future films". Dhen (in Divehi). 4 July 2020. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
8. Rasheed, Ahmed (16 September 2023). "Free Delivery to start on 4th Nov this year". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
9. Rasheed, Ahmed (29 December 2023). ""What Kanbalhi?" Here is the trailer of Kanbalhi". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 1 January 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
10. Rasheed, Ahmed (15 December 2023). "No further delays; here is the release date of "Lasviyas"". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
11. Maahaa, Aishath (19 September 2021). "An introduction to Ille and Bavathi". Dho? (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
12. Rasheed, Ahmed (20 June 2022). "Nisha's murderer revealed". MuniAvas (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
13. Rasheed, Reeaan (11 April 2023). "Ifnaz: "FitNaz or PhotoNaz? Or Shall we call him now FilmyNaz?". Vaguthu (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
14. Latheef, Alim Abdul (25 April 2023). "No space for criticizing; Yaaraa deserves a 100". Sun (in Divehi). Archived from the original on 20 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.

External links

• Ahmed Ifnaz Firag at IMDb