Kamran Pasha

Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood screenwriter, director and novelist. He currently serves as a producer and writer on NBC's "Bionic Woman". [cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1245501/ |title=Kamran Pasha |accessdate=2007-05-02 |publisher=Internet Movie Database.] Previously, he served as a co-producer and writer for "Sleeper Cell", Showtime Network's terrorism drama. [cite news |first=Lynn |last=Smith |title=Showtime's 'Sleeper Cell' brings terrorism home |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/07/31/showtimes_sleeper_cell_brings_terrorism_home/ |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=2005-07-31 |accessdate=2007-05-02] "Sleeper Cell" was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries in 2005 [cite web |url=http://www.hfpa.org/news/id/13 |title=63rd Golden Globe Awards Nominations |accessdate=2007-05-02 |date=2005-12-13 |publisher=Hollywood Foreign Press Association] and for an Emmy for Best Miniseries in 2006. [cite news |first=Gary |last=Levin |title=Emmy barely budges from nomination rut |url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-07-06-emmy-nominations_x.htm |publisher=USA Today |date=2006-07-06 |accessdate=2007-05-02]

Pasha sold his first two novels to Simon & Schuster in 2007. The books are entitled "Mother of the Believers", a historical epic that follows the birth of Islam from the eyes of Prophet Muhammad's teenage wife Aisha, and "Shadow of the Swords", a love story set amidst the showdown of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during the Third Crusade. [cite web |url=http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2007/09/its-dj-vu-all-over-again.html |title=Reading the Past |accessdate=2007-11-10 |publisher=ReadingThePast.Blogspot.Com.]

Pasha wrote his first video game for hip hop artist 50 Cent in 2008. The game, entitled , is the sequel to the bestselling title and is being distributed by Vivendi Games. [cite web |url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/50-cent-new-xbox-360-playstationr3_536054_15.html |title=50 Cent Is Back |publisher=Fox Business Network |date=2008-03-27 |accessdate=2008-04-09]

Early career

Pasha was born in Karachi, Pakistan and immigrated to the United States at the age of three. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in the predominantly Hasidic Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park.cite web |url=http://www.netsap.org/salf/bios.html |title=BIOS |accessdate=2007-05-02 |publisher=Network of South Asian Professionals – Washington, D.C.] He attended Stuyvesant High School in New York, graduating in 1989. He went on to Dartmouth College, [cite web |url=http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/93/whoswhere20021106.html |title=dartmouth class of '93 |accessdate=2007-05-02 |date=2005-08-12 |publisher=Dartmouth College] where he majored in comparative religion [cite web |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~religion/awards/Religion_honors_75-06a.pdf |title=HONORS THESES IN RELIGION: 1975-2006 |accessdate=2007-05-02 |format=PDF |publisher=Dartmouth College] and served as an editor of the college newspaper, "The Dartmouth".

After graduating, Pasha worked as a journalist for the Wall Street publisher Institutional Investor and the Knight Ridder financial newsire. During his tenure as a reporter, he interviewed international leaders such as Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.

He left the journalism world in 1996 and attended Cornell Law School. [cite web |url=http://support.law.cornell.edu/technology/clslab/studentsemail.htm |title=Cornell Law School Student Email Addresses |accessdate=2007-05-02 |publisher=Cornell Law School] He subsequently enrolled in the MBA program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and graduated with a joint law/business degree in 2000. [cite web |url=http://www.tuck2000.com/links/links.html |title=Interesting Links |accessdate=2007-05-02 |year=2006 |publisher=Tuck2000.com]

Move into film industry

Pasha briefly worked as an attorney at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking. He attended the MFA Producers Program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and graduated in 2003. [cite web |url=http://www.ilw.com/articles/2008,0219-immigrants.shtm |title=Immigrants of the Week |accessdate=2008-04-09 |date=2008-02-19 |publisher=Immigration Daily]

His first television writing job was as a staff writer on UPN's remake of the classic series "The Twilight Zone". [cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/kamran-pasha/person/158150/summary.htmll |title=Kamran Pasha |accessdate=2007-05-02 |year=2007 |work=TV.com |publisher=CNET Networks, Inc.]

In 2003, Pasha set up his first feature film project, an historical epic on the love story of the Taj Mahal, at Warner Brothers Pictures. [cite news |first=S |last=Dhar |title=Hollywood turns to India for inspiration |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EF18Df04.html |publisher=Asia Times Online |date=2003-06-18 |accessdate=2007-05-02] He subsequently wrote a screen adaptation of the Japanese anime "Kite" in collaboration with director Rob Cohen and producer Anant Singh. [cite news |title=Scribe Hired For Rob Cohen's 'Kite' Adaptation |url=http://www.killermovies.com/k/kite/articles/3551.html |publisher=KillerMovies |date=2004-01-20 |accessdate=2007-05-02] He has also written screen adaptations of the Japanese horror film "Ghost Actress" by director Hideo Nakata, and adapted Deepak Chopra's novel "Soulmate". [cite news |title=SOULMATE |url=http://www.artsmart.co.za/film/archive/159.html |publisher=Artsmart |date=2003-09-24 |accessdate=2007-05-02]

Pasha spent two years as a writer and co-producer for the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated "Sleeper Cell". In 2007, he signed on as a producer of NBC's "Bionic Woman". [cite news |author=Variety Staff |title=The Bionic Woman |url=http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934824.html?categoryid=32&cs=1 |work=Variety |publisher=Reed Business Information |date=2007-09-21 |accessdate=2007-10-17]

Pasha wrote and directed the short film "Miriam", which won the Gaia Award at the Moondance International Film Festival in August 2008. [cite web |url=http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com/45-Winners.html |title=Moondance 2008 Winners |accessdate=2008-08-08 |publisher=Moondance Film Festival] The award is given to those who "elucidate and improve the spiritual quality of all life on the planet, and contribute [...] to the betterment of the world spirit". [cite web |url=http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com/09-Awards.html |title=Moondance Awards |accessdate=2008-08-08 |publisher=Moondance Film Festival]

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