Suniel Shetty

Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films.

In a career spanning almost 30 years, he has acted in over 100 films.

He is the owner of the production house Popcorn Entertainment Private Limited.

He has produced a number of films including Khel – No Ordinary Game, Rakht and Bhagam Bhag, under the banner of Popcorn Motion Pictures.

Suniel Shetty was born in a Tulu speaking Bunt family on 11 August 1961 in Mulki, Mangalore.

He was one of the highest paid Bollywood actors in the 1990s.

He was involved primarily in action films throughout the 1990s, playing the male protagonist in most of the movies he acted in during the decade.

He made his debut in Hindi films in 1992 at the age of 31 with Balwaan, opposite Divya Bharti.

The film helped him to retain his position in Bollywood as an action hero.

He went on to play the protagonist in various successful movies such as Balwaan (1992), Waqt Hamara Hai (1993), Pehchaan (1993), Dilwale (1994), Anth (1994), Mohra (1994), Gopi Kishan (1994), Hum Hain Bemisaal (1994), Surakshaa(1995), Raghuveer (1995), Takkar(1995), Krishna (1996), Sapoot (1996), Shastra (1996), Rakshak (1996), Border (1997), Judge Mujrim (1997), Bhai (1997), Qahar (1997), Vinashak (1998) and Hu Tu Tu (1999).

From early 2000, he appeared mainly in multi-starrers in across genres.

He even played negative roles in movies, including Dhadkan (2000), Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani (2002), Karz: The Burden of Truth (2002), Khel – No Ordinary Game (2003), Baaz: A Bird in Danger (2003), Main Hoon Na (2004), Rudraksh (2004), Cash, No Problem (2010), Enemmy (2013), and A Gentleman (2017).

He also starred opposite Isha Koppikar in Arjun Rampal's debut movie Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat (2001).

Shetty won the Filmfare Award for Best Villain in 2001 for Dhadkan.

In 2005, on the eve of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's 61st birth anniversary, the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress honoured Shetty with the Rajiv Gandhi award.

In 2009, Shetty bagged South Asian International Film Festival's Best Actor Award for his role in Naxalites based Indian movie Red Alert.

The actor has entrepreneurial ventures as well.

He produced films such as Khel – No Ordinary Game, Rakht and Bhagam Bhag under the banner of Popcorn Motion Pictures.

Along with Mukesh Chhabra, he has also started an online casting company, F...the Couch (FTC).

FTC is a digital platform that discovers new talent in Bollywood provides a platform to new artists to make a place for themselves in Bollywood.

Apart from being part of this project, Shetty has also been actively involved in realty and restaurant business.

He closed down Mischief Bar in 2010, and instead opened a new restaurant called Little Italy.

The restaurant was first owned by his father when it was an Udupi restaurant, Suniel then changed the restaurant into a bar, and then back into a restaurant with the different name with his father's blessings.

Suniel Shetty is captain of the Mumbai Heroes cricket team in the Celebrity Cricket League.

In 2014, he changed the spelling of his name from Sunil to Suniel for numerological reasons.

Its founder Jitendra Chouksey launched Fittr in January 2016 as a community on Facebook to address the challenges in the fitness industry.

Fittr now claims of over 100,000 fitness transformations, and a highly engaged community of 550,000 members.

The platform's mobile app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since September 2018.

Shetty has appeared as a host for India's leading fitness reality shows Biggest Loser Jeetega on Sahara One.

and

India's Asli Champion Hai dam? on &TV.

The actor owns Mischief Dining Bar and Club H2O, in Mumbai.

Both the places are running successfully.

He co-owns the water adventure park attached to cafe H2O.

He is also the co-founder of Ferit Cricket Bash that was launched in December 2018.

In 2019, Shetty invested an undisclosed amount in a Pune-based online health and fitness start up Fittr.

Shetty also acted in his second Tamil film Darbar with Rajinikanth in 2020.

In 2021, Shetty appeared in the Sanjay Gupta's gangster drama film Mumbai Saga.

He was last seen in film in Kiran Korrapati directed Ghani (2020).

In 2023, Shetty portrayed ACP Vikram Chauhan in Hunter Tootega Nahi Todega, an action thriller web series that follows his character's journey into the dark alleys of Mumbai's crime world.