Nawaz completed his degree from the national school of drama and later entered Bollywood by doing some side roles. But it wasn’t his time then at a point he was so out of work that he had no money to pay the rent and lived with his seniors. He kept on searching for work and then finally appeared in the song emotional attaychar. After that, he worked in the movie new York. After that, he started getting some roles and in 2012 was seen in the movie kahaani where he played the role of an archetypal short-tempered intelligence officer. He then gained fame by working with Anurag Kashyap in his movie Gangs of Wasseypur. He then also featured in the sequel of the movie also. He loves the role he played in Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely.
Later he played the lead role in the movie kick he was an antagonist Shiv Gajra. He also got awarded for his performance in the movie Haraamkhor. The award was presented by the New York film festival. He won the best actor trophy. Later working in web series like sacred games he also made his place in the youngster’s hearts. A don like Ganesh Gaitonde was the one everyone would fear. Later he worked on the biopic of Kate politician Balasaheb Thackeray where he himself played the role of this inspiring leader. Before gaining the fame he was seen in one of the episodes of CID in 2001. He is married to Anjali Siddiqui and has two kids.
A book An Ordinary Life was published a few months ago which is a biography of his life struggle and how he gained what he has now.