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Asaduzzaman Noor (born 31 October 1946) is a Bangladeshi actor, politician and activist. He was a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Nilphamari-2 constituency during 2001–2024 and served as the cultural affairs minister during 2014–2019.
Noor worked as an actor in theatre, film and television productions. He is best known for his role as Baker Bhai in the television series Kothao Keu Nei. His other notable television works include Ei Shob Din Ratri, Aaj Robibar, Ayomoy, Bohubrihi and Nokkhotrer Raat. His notable films are Shonkhonil Karagar (1992) and Aguner Poroshmoni (1994).
In 2018, Noor was awarded the Independence Day Award, the highest civilian state award in Bangladesh, by the government of Bangladesh.
Noor got his break-through in acting during his early days as a Bangladesh Television dramatic artist and has since starred in many television shows and films.
In 2018, Noor returned to the stage with his long-term acting partner, Zaker, in a Bengali adaptation of Bertolt Brecht play, The Life of Galileo, about the 17th-century polymath Galileo Galilei. The role of Galileo was played by Zaker with Noor playing a number of supporting roles. The play ran for a limited number of performances in Dhaka's Bailey Road.
At the eve of Bangladesh Liberation War, Noor left Dhaka and came back to Nilphamari District when he received an order from his political party on 8 March 1971. There he helped the then East Pakistan Rifles (now Border Guards Bangladesh). He crossed the border during the War of Liberation on 8 April. Noor was a freedom fighter under the Sector-6 and helped to organise the war and took training. He also helped to recruit freedom fighters during the nine-month war period. But following the liberation of Bangladesh he grew more distant with active politics. However, later Noor became active in the 1990 Mass Uprising against the military leader Ershad.
In 1996, Noor was asked by the Bangladesh Awami League leader and future Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to run as an Awami League candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. However, claiming he was not yet ready, he postponed participation until the subsequent general election in 2001, running in his home-town, Nilphamari. In the 2001 general election Noor was elected as the Member of Parliament for Nilphamari-2, a constituency in the north-west, where he won with 38% of the popular vote.
In the subsequent 2008 general election Noor was re-elected, increasing his vote share to 62%. Noor ran unopposed in the 2014 general election, as the election was boycotted by the opposition alliance. He was elected for a fourth consecutive time in the 2018 general election for Nilphamari-2, with a vote share of 68%. He was elected again in the 2024 general election (which was largely boycotted by opposition parties). Noor ceased to be an MP when parliament was dissolved in August 2024, following the quota reform movement.
In 2014, Noor was appointed to the Cabinet by the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, as Minister for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He served a full term as Minister but was dropped from the subsequent Cabinet formed in 2019.
On 14 December 2013, Noor's motorcade in Nilphamari was attacked by activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, causing the deaths of five people. Two days earlier, 70+ shops and businesses owned by the local Hindu community in his constituency, had allegedly been attacked and burnt down by Jamaat activists. Noor's convoy was returning from a visit to his constituencies there when the attack happened. According to media reports, the road had been cut up preventing the convoy's movement, in what was described as a planned ambush, and the attackers were brandishing sharp weapons. Four of those killed were affiliated with the ruling Awami League. Noor is said to have only escaped alive because people had made a human shield around him.
On 15 September 2024, Noor was arrested from Bailey Road, Dhaka by the detective branch for a murder case filed over the death of hotel staff, Siam Sarder, in the Mirpur area during the quota reform movement on 18 July. He was also sued in another murder case of Golam Rabbani, the organising secretary of BNP's Lakshmichap union leader, in Nilphamari in 2014.
Noor is a former vice-chairman at Asiatic Three Sixty and a former managing director at Desh TV, but resigned from these posts when assuming his role as a minister. He is also a trustee at the Bangladesh Liberation War Museum.
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