Danny Denzongpa

Danny Denzongpa
Denzongpa in February 2010
Born	Tshering Phintso Denzongpa (1948-02-25) 25 February 1948 (age 69) Gangtok, Kingdom of Sikkim
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor, Singer, Businessman
Years active	1963–present
Spouse(s)	Gawa Denzongpa
Children	Rinzing Denzongpa, Pema Denzongpa

Danny Denzongpa (born 25 February 1948) is an Indian actor, singer and film director of Sikkimese Bhutia descent. He has mainly worked in Bollywood films though he has also appeared in several Nepali, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu films. He has acted in around 190 Hindi films since 1971. In 2003, Denzongpa was awarded the Padma Shree, India's fourth highest civilian honour. Denzongpa is especially noted for his villainous characters as 'Kancha Cheena' in Agneepath, 'Bakhtawar in Hum, 'Kaatya' in Ghatak: Lethal and 'Dilawar' in 36 Ghante. In addition he is also remembered for his positive characters in films like 'Lahu ke do rang', 'Bulundi', 'Hum se badhkar kaun', 'Boxer', 'Khuda Gawah', '16 December' and 'China Gate'.

Danny's film career spans more than 4 decades. He has also starred in some international projects, the most famous being Seven Years in Tibet where he acted alongside Hollywood actor Brad Pitt.

Denzongpa was born to a Buddhist family in Gangtok, the capital of the Kingdom of Sikkim (the 22nd state of India since 1975) where he did his schooling from Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital and thereafter completed his college from St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, in 1964. Denzongpa's love of horses and horse riding began at an early age, as his family was into horse breeding. He is also a painter, a writer and a sculptor.

He nursed an ambition to join the Indian Army and won the Best Cadet award from West Bengal and participated in the Republic Day parade. In an interview to The Times of India newspaper, he said that he had qualified for prestigious Armed Forces Medical College, Pune but withdrew admission to join Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. He decided to change his name to a simpler sounding "Danny", on recommendation from his then-colleague Jaya Bachchan, as his original name – Tshering Phintso Denzongpa – was found to be hard to pronounce.