Biography
Born and raised in Pakistan, her family lived throughout South East Asia before settling down in Vancouver, BC. She not only brought her suitcase, but her passion for performing as well. Zara has been a prominent figure in the Vancouver entertainment industry for almost a decade. She has held many titles including actress, model, television host, producer, director and activist. Through her work, she strives to make a positive difference in the world.
2010 was an intensely busy year for Durrani, as she juggled several different projects and roles. Sindoor, a short film Zara garnered a lead role in opposite Balinder Johal, had a great festival run around the world alongwith getting nominated for 4 Leo Awards and opening the Vancouver Asian Film Festival that year. Sindoor also won the best short film award at VAFF, and Golden Kahuna Award at the Honolulu Film Awards. Zara was announced as the Official Reporter for We Canada campaign, the Canadian Initiative for the 2012 Earth Summit in Rio. She represented the organization at various charity events and interviewed celebrities and campaign ambassadors to help raise awareness on sustainable living. Same year, Durrani was handpicked as the Field Producer and Host for VISAFF (Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival). The festival's purpose and vision is to "bridge the gap" between South Asian talent and mainstream audiences and Zara played a huge part in being an ambassador for the festival in 2010 and 2011. Shortly afterwards, Zara was approached to produce and host VanEssence with Novus TV and Suhrwardy Brothers. 'VanEssence' aimed to promote fashion, music, arts and culture that make Vancouver what it is, 'one of the best cities in the world' and a champion for diversity. The show was well received and it led to Durrani starting her own production company and creating the infamous talk show, as seen on 4 networks across Canada, Life & Style with Zara. Zara interviewed many influential Canadians and Hollywood celebrities for the show including David Suzuki , Severn Suzuki, Bif Naked, Rick Campanelli (ET Canada), Adam Beach (CBC Arctic Air),Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Lana Parrilla (CW Once Upon a Time), Thomas Dekker (CW Secret Circle), Agam Darshi (Sanctuary, Played), David Sutcliffe among many others. Founded on the principles of fairness, equality, spirituality and inspiration, Life&Style with Zara wrapped up it's 13-episode first season which began airing in July 2011. The show aired on 4 networks in Canada including CHEK and JOY TV nationally, and Shaw TV and Novus Community Channel in the Vancouver Lower Mainland. The show nabbed prime-time spot on CHEK News, airing at 7pm until fall 2012. For almost a year the show aired 10 times a week on three networks across Canada and was hard to miss for anyone who a owned a television. Currently, Zara is still producing online content for the show.
2012 was a very exciting and busy year for Zara as she returned to her first love; acting. She finished 4 feature films in 3 different countries, Canada, US and Mexico. She worked as supporting lead in Kavi Raz's 3 part feature film Maple Heart/Rukh/BC Gangs. Mr.Raz (director/writer) handpicked her for this role after auditioning 300 actresses between Los Angeles and Vancouver. For her role in Maple Heart Zara trained physically to get in shape for the character and also had to learn Punjabi. The film is loosely based on Bindy Johal, a deceased South Asian gangster's life and deals with drugs and human trafficking. In December, she wrapped filming on Cancel written and produced by famous Iranian director Mohammad Rahmanian. Durrani played the lead role of a street performer battling depression and addiction.
In January 2013, the long-awaited selection of the international Spokes Model Ambassador for Fashion Hope resulted with the choice of Pakistani born and Canada native Zara Durrani. Fashion Hope builds awareness and raises funds in the fashion industry, then partners with Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) that are doing the front line work to rescue and rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking. "To us, Zara will be triple threat with her grace, beauty and humanitarian compassion - along with the tenacity to speak her passion. She will speak for Fashion Hope touching places only her voice could reach. We are truly grateful for this period in the early growth of our organization, and look forward to working with Zara on awareness campaigns." Fashion Hope CEO Marc Palmer Most recently, Miss Durrani booked a fantastic guest star role on the USA Network show Psych, which is in it's 8th season. She is working on several film projects while juggling her duties as the Fashion Hope Global Ambassador.
