Irfan Pathan
Pathan was born 27 October 1984 in Baroda, Gujarat, India and is of Pashtun (Pathan) ancestry, belonging to the Pathan community in Gujarat. He grew up with his elder brother Yusuf in a mosque in Vadodara, in an impoverished family. His father served as the muezzin. Although their parents wished them to become Islamic scholars, Pathan and his brother took an interest in cricket. Their games on the grounds off and inside the mosque often necessitated apologies from their father to Muslim worshippers who visited it. In the beginning his deliveries did not reach the other end of the cricket pitch, but rigorous six-hour training sessions in blazing heat and his family's sense of discipline saw him progress steadily.
Irfan (actor)
Irfan made his acting debut with the television serial "Kana Kaanum Kaalangal", a school based drama aired in STAR Vijay. He consequently got an opportunity to appear in the reality dance show "Jodi Number One" on the same channel and finished in third place with Monisha Ravishankar in the show's second season. He went on to perform his first movie titled "Pattalam" along with his co-actors from "Kana Kaanum Kaalangal". He also appeared in a supporting role in "Eppadi Manasukkul Vanthai" (2012) before landing up in his debut solo role in "Sundaattam" (2013), a film based on carrom gambling in Royapuram area in North Chennai. The film featuring him alongside Arundhati, won average reviews from critics post release. In 2013, he was placed as the replacement for Mirchi Senthil as his son, in the long running television serial "Saravannan Meenatchi", his biggest acting assignment till date, which he dropped in hope of winning in his film career instead, claiming that the script will not give him a big enough name amongst the audience and lent his role to another person on 14 August 2014.