Arif Gasimov was born in Baku. He studied at the Cultural Education Technical School (1971-1975), the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts (1975-1980), and the Higher Directing Course in Moscow.

For three years, he worked as a lighting engineer at the Young Spectators Theater.

Later, he worked as a director on Azerbaijani television for many years. In the last years of his life, he worked in the editorial office of "Children and Youth".

He played roles in the satirical film magazine "Mozalan".

Arif Gasimov died in 2016.