Rahsaan Noor

Rahsaan Nur Islam was born on September 24, 1986, in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest son of Munir Islam, a software engineer, and Rakhshanda Munir, a physician. His parents are Bangladeshi immigrants to the United States and he grew up in Chicago with his younger brother, Ridwan. From a young age, Noor's parents kept him in touch with their culture by teaching him to read and write Bengali as well as by including him in local Bangladeshi cultural events where he would recite poetry and act in stage plays. Noor's paternal grandfather is journalist and author Nurul Islam Patwari, the former editor of The Daily Ittefaq and Dainik Bangla newspapers and founder of Bichitra magazine. His maternal grandfather, Chowdhury Mahtabuddin, was the managing director of Adamjee Jute Mills.

Noor's first love was basketball and he would play Division III college basketball at Lake Forest College. Though he would later receive formal training at UCLA film school, Noor initially began receiving offers to act in commercials for Bengali and Bangladeshi television after a home movie he made - Kings of Devon (2010) - released in theaters nationwide. His first professional theatrical release came in 2013's Simanaheen (2013). In 2018, Noor broke out to gain international attention after starring in and directing Bengali Beauty (2018). His portrayal of a brash radio DJ during the politically turbulent year of 1975 in Bangladesh earned Noor critical acclaim in a film that achieved significant international box office success.