Radhika Apte

Radhika Apte (born 7 September 1985) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi films.

Apte has received several awards including an International Emmy Award nomination, thus becoming the first Indian actress to do so.

Radhika Apte born on 7 September 1985 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu into a Marathi Brahmin family.

Her parents were studying and working as doctors at the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore when she was born.

Her father Dr. Charudutt Apte subsequently became a neurosurgeon and chairman of Sahyadri Hospital, Pune.

She is an Economics and Mathematics graduate from Fergusson College, Pune.

In Pune, she initially studied in a regular school, and then was homeschooled along with four friends by their parents living in the same building, who did not want their children to go through the regular schooling system.

Apte found this experience liberating, as it boosted her self-confidence.

While growing up in Pune, Apte trained under Kathak exponent, Rohini Bhate, for eight years.

It was during this time that Apte became involved in theater in Pune, and decided to go to Mumbai to join films.

However, a few months later, Apte got discouraged by her experience in Mumbai and returned to her family in Pune.

Apte began acting in theatre and made her film debut with a brief role in the fantasy drama, Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! (2005).

Apte first appeared with a small role in the Hindi film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! in 2005, a project she did "just for fun" while still in college.

Actor Rahul Bose, who had seen Apte perform in Anahita Oberoi's play Bombay Black, suggested her name to director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury who cast her in his National award-winning Bengali film Antaheen along with Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose.

She played the role of Brinda Roy Menon, a TV journalist, in Antaheen.

Riddhima Seal, writing for The Times of India, called Apte a "revelation", further adding "With eyes that speak a thousand words, her passion for work and the loneliness of her heart as she waits to chat every night with that special stranger just strikes the right chord".

Apte's first lead role was in the 2009 Bengali social drama, Antaheen.

During this time, Apte acted in her first film, a Marathi film called "Gho mala asala hawa" (2009).

After this she acted in Rakta Charitra, Rakta Charitra 2, and "I am".

On returning to Pune, Apte made an overnight decision of going to London for a year, where she studied contemporary dance at London's Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for a year.

Apte said her experience in London was life-changing, as she was exposed to a completely different and liberating way of working professionally.

There she met her future husband Benedict, who subsequently moved to Pune with her, travelling regularly to Mumbai for his work while Apte still did not want to return to Mumbai because of her earlier experience.

After a year, she finally agreed to move to Mumbai, and her second experience in Mumbai was far more positive, as she no longer felt alone.

In 2009, Apte had her first Indian release, KBC productions' Gho Mala Asla Hava by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, in which she appeared as Savitri, a village girl.

She later collaborated with Bhave and Sukthankar again on the Hindi docufiction Mor Dekhne Jungle Mein.

It was in that year that she also worked on Jatin Wagle's Ek Indian Manoos, Akash Khurana's Life Online, about "a bunch of youngsters working in a BPO" and Amol Palekar's Indian film, Samaantar.

In 2010, she was seen in Maneej Premnath's thriller The Waiting Room and later, appeared in a significant role in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra and its sequel.

On returning from London, Apte was offered a role in a large blockbuster production Hindi film, but was (in her words) kicked out of it, because they felt she was too fat to be in that film.

In 2011, Apte appeared in the anthology film I Am and in Shor in the City under Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures.

She has been married to London-based musician, Benedict Taylor, since 2012.

She worked for the third time with the Bhave-Sukthankar duo on Ha Bharat Majha (2012), a film inspired by Anna Hazare's movement that was shot in 14 days and screened at various film festivals.

Her two other 2012 releases were Tukaram in Marathi and Dhoni, her maiden Tamil film.

For her performance in the latter, she was nominated for SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

She gained attention for her supporting roles in three of her 2015 Bollywood productions: the revenge drama Badlapur, the comedy Hunterrr, and the biographical film Manjhi - The Mountain Man.

Her leading roles in the 2016 independent films Phobia and Parched earned her acclaim.

In addition to her work in independent films, Apte has also played the leading lady in mainstream films, such as the Tamil action film Kabali (2016), the Hindi biographical film Pad Man (2018), and the Hindi black comedy Andhadhun (2018), all of which were commercially successful.

In 2018, Apte starred in three Netflix productions – the anthology film Lust Stories, the thriller series Sacred Games, and the horror mini-series Ghoul.

She was nominated for an International Emmy Award for her work in the first of these.

Apte recounted these times in an interview with Scoop Whoop in 2018, as a learning yet demoralizing experience, wherein she managed with a salary of ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 from theater roles and having to put up with odd house owners and roommates in Goregaon, where she lived as a paying guest.

She has since starred in the Netflix films Raat Akeli Hai (2020) and Monica, O My Darling (2022), and portrayed Noor Inayat Khan in the American film A Call to Spy (2019).