Modelling career and acting debut (1999–2003) Abraham started his modelling career appearing in the music video of the song 'Jhanjar' of Hans Raj Hans and 'Surma' by Punjabi singer
Jazzy B. He then joined the media firm and Time & Space Media Entertainment Promotions Ltd., which however got closed because of financial crisis. Later, he worked for Enterprises-Nexus as a
media planner. In 1999, he won the
Gladrags Manhunt Contest and went to the Philippines for
Manhunt International, where he won second place. He later modelled in
Hong Kong,
London and
New York City, and appeared in a number of commercial advertisements and other music videos for singers including
Pankaj Udhas,
Hans Raj Hans and
Babul Supriyo. To improve his acting skills, Abraham joined Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute and completed an acting course while juggling modelling assignments. Considered "the top model of India before he ventured into films", Abraham made his acting debut with
Jism in 2003, an
erotic thriller film that, according to Box Office India, was "Hit" grossing . He portrayed the role of Kabir Lal, a poor, alcoholic and wayward lawyer who falls in love with Sonia Khanna (played by
Bipasha Basu), a wife of a travelling millionaire, who plots to kill her own husband with the company of Kabir. The film met with mixed to positive reviews.
Taran Adarsh of
Bollywood Hungama commented: "Supermodel John Abraham makes a confident debut. The actor rises beyond his looks and registers a strong impact with his performance, more so towards the second half. His dashing looks and excellent physique only add to his persona". In the same year, Abraham appeared in
Anurag Basu's horror
paranormal romance film
Saaya alongside
Tara Sharma and
Mahima Chaudhry. The film garnered mixed to negative reviews and underperformed at the box office.
Taran Adarsh wrote: "Saaya clearly belongs to John. No two opinions on that! Enacting a very difficult role, the newcomer actually performs like a veteran and delivers a performance that's bound to win him nominations in the awards categories. His growth as an actor is tremendous!" In 2003, he appeared in
Pooja Bhatt's directorial debut film
Paap alongside
Udita Goswami. He portrayed the role of Shiven, a police officer, who falls for a
Buddhist girl, Kaaya. The film underperformed at the box office, receiving mixed reviews, and also was premiered at the Kara Film Festival. That same year, he appeared in
Ahmed Khan's film
Lakeer – Forbidden Lines, co-starring
Nauheed Cyrusi with other stars such as
Sunny Deol,
Sunil Shetty and
Sohail Khan, which also underperformed at the box office.
Breakthrough (2004–2009) In 2004, Abraham played Kabir, the main antagonist in
Dhoom, an
action film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, and produced by
Yash Raj Films, multi-starring
Abhishek Bachchan,
Esha Deol,
Uday Chopra and
Rimi Sen. The film was the third highest-grossing film of the year, which gained him a
Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role nomination. In 2005, he starred in the action thrillers
Elaan and
Karam, both of which failed at the box office. He followed with the supernatural thriller
Kaal and the comedy
Garam Masala, both of which did well at the box office. Later that year, he had a role in
Water, which portrayed the tragic fate of Hindu widows in
British India of the 1930s. The film was written and directed by independent Canadian film-maker
Deepa Mehta. It was popular internationally, and was nominated for the 2006
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the
79th Academy Awards. Abraham attended the ceremony along with the film's crew and makers but the film lost to Germany's
The Lives of Others. In the summer of 2006, Abraham performed at the "Rockstars Concert" along with fellow Bollywood actors
Salman Khan,
Zayed Khan,
Kareena Kapoor,
Esha Deol,
Shahid Kapoor and
Mallika Sherawat. In that same year, he starred in the films
Zinda,
Taxi No. 9211,
Baabul and
Kabul Express. Among these
Taxi No. 9211 and
Kabul Express were substantially successful. Abraham's performance in
Taxi No. 9211 was praised by critics, noting that his performances to be maturing with each new film.
Nikhil Advani's multi-starrer
Salaam-e-Ishq was Abraham's first release in 2007. The movie failed to do well at the Indian box office, though it did well in the overseas markets. His last two 2007 releases included the thriller
No Smoking, and the sports film
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, which emerged as a commercial failure at the box office. In 2008, Abraham starred alongside
Abhishek Bachchan and
Priyanka Chopra in
Dostana, his only release that year. Produced by
Dharma Productions, the film was a financial success with worldwide revenues of over . His only release of 2009 was a production by
Yash Raj Films,
New York. Costarring
Katrina Kaif and
Neil Nitin Mukesh, the film follows the lives of three friends when one of them is
wrongly detained after
9/11.
New York performed well at the box office and received favourable reviews.
Comedies and focus on action films (2010–2019) during
Desi Boyz promotions, 2011 In 2010, he was seen in the films
Aashayein and
Jhootha Hi Sahi. Both of the films turned out to be box office failures. Later on, Abraham appeared in the films
Force (2011),
Desi Boyz (2011) and
Housefull 2 (2012).
Force collected in India and was declared "Above Average" by Box Office India.
Housefull 2 grossed in India. His first film of 2013 was the multi-starrer
Race 2, an action thriller that served as a sequel to
Race (2008). The film received predominantly negative reviews, but grossed a successful total of . The coming-of-age romantic comedy
I, Me Aur Main, underperformed at the box office and received unfavorable reviews. His next release was
Shootout at Wadala, in which he portrayed the role of a gangster
Manya Surve, which gained mixed to positive reviews. Commercially, the film performed moderately well. Then his movie
Madras Cafe, which was also a second movie for him as a producer, garnered much critical acclaim. His next release was
Welcome Back, which was successful at the box office, earning worldwide. ,
Jacqueline Fernandez and Abraham during
Dishoom promotions in 2016 In 2016, his first release was
Rocky Handsome which was an average grosser at the box office. His second release of the year was
Dishoom, and despite mixed to negative reviews, the film proved to be successful at the box office grossing over worldwide. His next release of the year was
Force 2, the sequel to the 2011 film
Force.
Force 2 became the highest opening film for Abraham and opened with mixed to positive reviews. Abraham's performance received praise from the audience and critics. His next films in 2018 were the action films
Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran with
Diana Penty and
Boman Irani and
Satyameva Jayate with
Manoj Bajpayee and
Neha Sharma's younger sister
Aisha Sharma.
Satyameva Jayate was commercially successful earning 1.08 billion worldwide. In 2019, he starred in the action thriller
Romeo Akbar Walter and played
Mrunal Thakur's husband
DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav in
Nikkhil Advani's
Batla House, based on the 2008
Batla House encounter case. The latter grossed over worldwide becoming a commercially successful venture. Abraham said in 2016 that he had spurned multiple offers for
Hollywood films since 2006. He told an interviewer he wanted to focus on making "world standard" Indian films, though he did not rule out international films if an interesting offer came along. In 2018, he produced the Marathi film
Savita Damodar Paranjpe. In 2022 his fourth venture, was a
Malayalam movie
Mike.
Setbacks and Pathaan (2020–present) In 2021, Abraham appeared in
Mumbai Saga and
Satyameva Jayate 2, both of which were box office disasters. He did a cameo in his own production
Sardar Ka Grandson alongside
Arjun Kapoor and
Aditi Rao Hydari, that streamed on
Netflix. He produced, wrote and acted in the story of science-fiction actioner
Attack: Part 1 (2022), where he co-starred with
Rakul Preet Singh and
Jacqueline Fernandez. The film released threatically in April 2022 with mixed reviews from critics who praised the action sequences while criticising the screenplay,
Taran Adarsh of
Bollywood Hungama wrote, "
Attack: Part 1 works due to the novel concept, action, VFX and John Abraham's first-rate performance". The film grossed crore in India and crore overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of crore eventually
bombing at the box office. In his second release of 2022, he starred as Bhairav Purohit co-starring
Disha Patani,
Arjun Kapoor and
Tara Sutaria in
Mohit Suri's psychological thriller
Ek Villain Returns. The film released theatrically in July 2022 and opened to mixed reviews from critics. Sukanya Vema of
Rediff wrote, "
Ek Villain Returns falls back on the popularity of the Galliyan track to boost its appeal". It grossed 49.63 crores in India and 19.01 crore overseas, for a worldwide gross collection of and was a box office flop.