Asif Akbar

Born in Khulna, Bangladesh and raised in Cleveland, OH, USA since the age of two years, Asif Akbar knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life and followed his dreams, inspired by his father Enayet Akbar Milon to follow in his footsteps within the international entertainment industry." Asif's favorite hobby as a child with new found technology in the early 90's was making his own movies using a home handy cam and editing tape-to- tape video. During some of his childhood summer months, Asif often made trips to his native country of Bangladesh to take part in his father's professionally produced productions in front of and behind the camera, that allowed him to get hands-on practical experience on set. During his years at Valley Forge High School, Asif was also top in his class in the Radio & Television Production program for two years... learning and working on local T.V. shows as a director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. During his Junior and Senior years, these experiences prompted him to contact the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to get media credentials to attend and produce his own show during the 79th Academy Awards Red Carpet events in 2007 for the first time. Asif graduated high school in 2007 with the county's Rotary Club Award for high achievements in the Radio & Television Career and Technical Program and represented the Parma City School District, competing in the finals of Skills USA that same year. He was also selected to be the Senior Class Speaker during graduation. After high school, Asif made the move to Los Angeles at the age of 18 in 2007 to pursue his studies and graduate in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in degree in Cinema and Television, with an emphasis in directing from the prestigious film institute, Columbia College Hollywood. He made his first directorial full-length feature film ""My Foreign Desh"" in 2007, which premiered at the New York International Film and Video Festival in December 2008. Asif's award winning and well-acclaimed historical and controversial documentary film ""Top Priority: The Terror Within"" premiered at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills on May 16th, 2012 with a theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles and became a contender on the Oscar's short list for 2012. Asif recently directed several Television shows, short films and feature films including his latest international festival award winning directorial feature film "Smoke Filled Lungs" and pilot "FRONTLINES". Asif also produced over a dozen Hollywood films and produced his first Bangladeshi commercial film "Ochena Hridoy-Unknown Love" with his father, released in Bangladesh and U.S. mainstream Theaters in 2015 with a premiere show at Universal Studios in Hollywood, at this same year his directorial drama feature film ""Smoke Filled Lungs"" won the best feature film award at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in Milan, Italy. His latest directorial science-fiction feature film ""Astro"" has been released in North America during the 2018 summer season through Entertainment One and Sony Pictures. The road he chose led him to establish a very diverse range of experience working on several mainstream music videos, commercials, short films, TV shows, feature films and documentaries over the last 12 years under the wing of many well recognized and respected veterans as his top advisors in the global Film Industry.