Sid Mallya

Sidhartha Vijay Mallya is an American actor and author who was born on May 7, 1987. Born in Los Angeles, California, to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and former airline hostess Samira Mallya, he moved with his family to England shortly after his birth and was primarily raised there.

At the age of 11, Mallya attended boarding school at Papplewick School in Ascot, followed by Wellington College in Berkshire, where he completed his GCSEs and A Levels. He earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Queen Mary University of London, where he served as captain of the university field hockey team. He later trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama of the University of London, graduating with a Master of Arts in acting.

Initially planning to enter the family business, Mallya worked for a year at Diageo as an assistant brand manager on Guinness. He then moved to India, where he worked primarily with the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL cricket team, which was owned by his family at the time. During his time in India, he engaged in modeling and presenting, appearing on screen for channels such as NDTV and appearing on the cover of magazines like GQ.

Encouraged by his media experiences, Mallya decided to transition from the corporate world to the arts. He moved to Los Angeles in 2012 to pursue acting full-time. In 2013, he was selected for the ABC Talent Showcase training program for aspiring talents.

Mallya made his feature film debut in the comedy film Brahman Naman, directed by Q and produced by Steve Barron, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix. His subsequent film credits include Best Fake Friends alongside Victoria Smurfit, Flashback with Richard Cabral, and the Scott Windhauser-directed film Mafia Wars alongside Tom Welling and Cam Gigandet. He was also announced as a lead in Ryuhei Kitamura's feature film Thrill Ride.

In addition to acting, Mallya works as an author focusing on mental health promotion among youth. He published his debut book, If I'm Honest, through Penguin Random House in September 2021. His second book, a children's picture book titled Sad/Glad, was published by Penguin Random House in 2024 and reached the #1 spot on the Nielsen India bestseller list for English language books.