Fawad Siddiqui

Fawad Siddiqui is an American actor, improvisational comedian, and cartoonist. He has appeared on the USA Network television show Burn Notice, the George Clooney film [1] and The Men Who Stare At Goats, and the indie film The Bait. He also has roles in the upcoming films CO2--starring Charlie Murphy, Mike Tyson and Faizon Love--and The Festival of Light--starring Jimi Mistri and Aiden Quinn [source: imdb and variety.com]. He has also appeared in commercials for Home Depot, Capital One, Math Wizard, Danbury Hospital and others [source: imdb]. He regularly performs with such South Florida improvisational troupes as Laughing Gas and Impromedy.[2]

Siddiqui studied journalism in college and graduated from the University of Miami in 2003 with a degree in English and Communications. After graduation, he moved to Indianapolis, IN and worked for Islamic Horizons Magazine in Plainfield as an assistant editor [source: www.isna.net] and then to Chicago, IL for a time [source: http://posting.altweeklies.com/aan/academy-for-alternative-journalism-2004-fellows-chosen/Article?oid=133843]. Siddiqui would later return to Miami and discover improvisational theater through Laughing Gas [source: http://www.laughinggasimprov.com/current_cast.htm]. Eventually, he went on to study improv in Chicago's famous ImprovOlympic Theater.[3] He has also studied at Orlando's SAK Comedy Lab [source: www.sakcomedy.com], and at New York's PIT and Magnet Theaters. Today, he resides in Hialeah, Florida working as an actor and in improv throughout the state, including a performance at the Gainesville Improv Festival. In Illinois, he works with the Improv Playhouse in Libertyville [source: http://www.improvplayhouse.com/].

During his time studying and performing improvisation in Chicago and New York, he developed a new form of cartooning by creating live cartoon versions of long-form improv shows, primarily at ImprovOlympic Theater, but also elsewhere. He has produced hundreds of such illustrations, being hired by many of the top improv teams in the field to catalogue their work. [sources: http://www.chicagoimprov.org/showthread.php?t=5050 a well-respected improv classified section used by the Chicago Improv Community, featuring reviews of his work, http://www.thepit-nyc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=32132 a similar improv resource page for the New York improv community. And another: http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/showthread.php?t=64793. Note, these are not regular message boards. These sections are strictly monitored informational portals for improv news in two of the biggest markets for such work in the country, created and run by the leaders of leading theaters in the field.]

Siddiqui also founded a satiric comedic accoustic ecclectic folk fussion band in college called The Muslim Cowboys and performed with them at Islamic events throughout the country. [source: http://www.nme.com/awards/video/search/jamat, a British website covering Muslim community news.]