Rajkummar Rao

Rajkummar Rao, born Raj Kumar Yadav on 31 August 1984, is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema across independent and commercial features. Having appeared in more than thirty films, he is known for portraying a wide range of roles. His achievements include a National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards, and an Asia Pacific Screen Award. In 2017, he was named on Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list.

Rao was born in Prem Nagar, Gurgaon, Haryana, India, into a family that included two older siblings and three cousins. His father, Satya Prakash Yadav, worked for the Haryana revenue department, while his mother, Kamlesh Yadav, was a homemaker. His parents passed away in 2016 and 2019, respectively. He completed his secondary education at S.N. Sidheshwar Senior Secondary Public School, participating in student plays. He then graduated from Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College at the University of Delhi, during which he performed with the Kshitij Theatre Group and the Shri Ram Centre. Influenced by actor Manoj Bajpayee, he pursued professional training at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), graduating from its acting course in 2008 before moving to Mumbai.

After making an uncredited appearance in Rann (2010), Rao secured his feature film debut in the found-footage anthology Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010). He subsequently starred in the horror movie Ragini MMS (2011) and the thriller Shaitan (2011). In 2012, he had supporting roles in Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2, the historical drama Chittagong, and the box-office success Talaash: The Answer Lies Within. His breakthrough occurred in 2013 with his portrayal of lawyer Shahid Azmi in the biographical drama Shahid, which earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.

That same year, Rao gained broader visibility in the drama Kai Po Che!, earning a Filmfare nomination. He followed this with roles in CityLights (2014), the hit comedy-drama Queen (2014), and the drama Aligarh (2015), which brought him another Filmfare Supporting Actor nomination. He won a second Filmfare Critics Award for his performance in the survival drama Trapped (2016). In 2017, he starred in the romantic comedy Bareilly Ki Barfi, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and received an Asia Pacific Screen Award for his leading role as an election official in Newton. He also played Subhash Chandra Bose in the web series Bose: Dead/Alive (2017).

Rao expanded his mainstream popularity with the horror comedy Stree (2018), which became a major commercial success, and portrayed a terrorist in Omerta (2018). He went on to star in projects such as Ludo (2020), Monica, O My Darling (2022), and Srikanth (2024). For playing a closeted gay man in Badhaai Do (2022), he won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Following a series of commercial setbacks, he returned to box-office success with the sequel Stree 2 (2024), which became his highest-grossing film, and the fantasy feature Bhool Chuk Maaf (2025).