Akshay Kumar

Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967 ), known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema.

Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career spanning over 30 years, Kumar has appeared in over 100 films and has won several awards, including two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards.

The film established him as an action star in the 1990s and led to several films in the Khiladi film series, in addition to other action films such as Mohra (1994) and Jaanwar (1999).

Kumar began his career in 1991 with Saugandh and had his first commercial success a year later with the action thriller Khiladi.

Although his early tryst with romance in Yeh Dillagi (1994) was positively received, it was in the next decade that Kumar expanded his range of roles.

He gained recognition for the romantic films Dhadkan (2000), Andaaz (2003), Namastey London (2007), and for his slapstick comic performances in several films including Hera Pheri (2000), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Phir Hera Pheri (2006), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), and Singh Is Kinng (2008).

Kumar won Filmfare Awards for his negative role in Ajnabee (2001) and his comic performance in Garam Masala (2005).

While his career had fluctuated commercially, his mainstream success soared in 2007 with four consecutive box-office hits; it was consistent until a short period of decline between 2009 and 2011, after which he reinforced his status with several films, including Rowdy Rathore (2012) and Holiday (2014).

In 2008, He started hosting Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi and hosted four seasons.

He received the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, from the Government of India in 2009.

Kumar is one of the most prolific actors in Indian cinema.

Sometime during or after the 2011 Canadian federal election, the Conservative government granted Canadian citizenship to Kumar by invoking a little-known law which allowed circumventing the usual residency requirement for Canadian immigrants.

According to a former Conservative Party minister, Tony Clement, the citizenship was awarded in return for Kumar's offer of putting his "star power to use to advance Canada-Indian relations", and Canada's "trade relations, commercial relations, in the movie sector, in the tourism sector".

On 15 August 2023, Kumar confirmed he got Indian citizenship back and Canadian citizenship was withdrawn as part of Indian law.

Kumar was born in Old Delhi in Delhi, India, to Hari Om Bhatia (later Brijmohan Bhatia) and Aruna Bhatia in a Punjabi Hindu family.

His father was an army officer.

From a young age, Kumar was very interested in sports.

His father too enjoyed wrestling.

He lived and grew up in Delhi's Chandni Chowk and later he moved to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) when his father left Army to become an accountant with UNICEF.

Soon, his sister was born and the family lived in Koliwada, a Punjabi dominated area of Central Bombay.

He received his school education from Don Bosco High School, Matunga, simultaneously learning Karate.

He enrolled in Guru Nanak Khalsa College for higher education, but dropped out as he was not much interested in studies.

He requested his father that he wanted to learn martial arts further, and his father somehow saved money to send him to Thailand.

Kumar went to Bangkok to learn martial arts and lived in Thailand for five years learning Thai Boxing.

Kumar also has a sister, Alka Bhatia.

When Kumar was a teenager, his father asked him what he aspired to be.

Kumar expressed his desire to become an actor.

After having obtained a black belt in Taekwondo while in India, he studied martial arts in Bangkok, Thailand, where he learned Muay Thai and worked as a chef and waiter.

After Thailand, Kumar went to work in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) in a travel agency, in Dhaka in a hotel as a chef and Delhi where he sold Kundan jewellery.

Upon his return to Bombay, he commenced the teaching of martial arts.

During this time, the father of one of his students, himself a model co-ordinator, recommended Kumar into modelling which ultimately led to a modelling assignment for a furniture showroom.

Moreover, around this time critical response to several of his films improved; his work in Special 26 (2013), Baby (2015) and Airlift (2016) was acclaimed, and he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the crime thriller Rustom (2016).

He also launched the TV reality show Dare 2 Dance in 2014 and his off-screen work includes ownership of the team Khalsa Warriors in the World Kabaddi League.

The actor had also set up martial arts training schools for women safety in the country.

Kumar is one of the India's most philanthropic actor and supports various charities.

He is a leading brand endorser celebrity in India.

Forbes included Kumar in their lists of both highest-paid celebrities and highest-paid actors in the world from 2015 to 2020.

List of highest-paid celebrities by Forbes:

He earned further notice for his self-produced social films Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) and Pad Man (2018), as well as the war film Kesari (2019), and set box-office records in 2019 with Mission Mangal, Housefull 4, Good Newwz, and the 2021 action film Sooryavanshi.

In addition to acting, Kumar has worked as a stunt actor.