Famous Actor To Motivational Speaker, A Look At Abbas Ali's Career

At a time when getting a chance to act in films was considered prestigious, there were only a few actors who made a mark in Hindi cinema. Abbas Ali, one of the leading actors of the 90s, was presented with several opportunities. Initially, planning to opt for an engineering career, Abbas, who was fascinated by glitz and glamour, took part in a modelling competition. Winning the competition marked the beginning of his film career.

The actor appeared in several notable films and was a sensation in Tamil cinema back in the 90s and 2000s. Despite achieving stardom, Abbas Ali reportedly went bankrupt. He then quit acting and shifted to New York in 2015 for better financial stability. According to DNA, the actor went bankrupt 4 times and even took odd jobs as a bike mechanic, taxi driver and toilet cleaner. Today, the actor is living far from the glamour industry.

He made his film debut with Kadhir’s directorial Kadhal Desam in 1996. The film was a commercial success and made him a star overnight. The actor then appeared in several films including Swetha Naagu, Poochudava, Minnale, Aanandham, VIP, Pammal K Sambandam, Kandukondain Kandukondain, Hey Ram, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai and Jeans, and Padayappa, among others. He has acted alongside legendary actors like Rajinikanth and Mammootty. He even shared the screen space with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

However, he soon struggled with a bad phase of his acting career. Following this, some of his films received disastrous responses at the box office. In an interview with Indian Express, Abbas Ali once shared, “Despite initially receiving great response from the audience, some of my films bombed at the box office. This left me under financial strain and put me in a difficult situation where I was even struggling to afford necessities like rent or cigarettes.”

He added, “This prompted me to reach out to producer RB Choudary for work. He offered me the film Pooveli. Still, after some time, I eventually quit acting because I got bored. I wasn’t enjoying my work.” The former actor currently works as a motivational speaker.