Sidharth Malhotra

Sidharth Malhotra
Malhotra at a promotional event for Kapoor & Sons (2016)
Born	(1985-01-16) 16 January 1985 (age 32) Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor, model
Years active	2012–present

Sidharth Malhotra (born 16 January 1985) is an Indian actor and former model who appears in Bollywood films. Malhotra began a career as a model at the age of 18. Dissatisfied by the profession, he went on to work as an assistant director to Karan Johar in the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. He made his acting debut with a leading role in Johar's comedy-drama Student of the Year (2012), for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut nomination.

Malhotra played an aspiring businessman in the critically praised comedy-drama Hasee Toh Phasee in 2014, following which he starred as a hardened criminal in the romantic thriller Ek Villain (2014) and an aspiring author in the family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016). The latter two rank among Malhotra's highest-grossing films, with a worldwide gross of over ₹1 billion (US$15 million) each.

Malhotra was born in Delhi, into a Punjabi family, to Sunil, a former captain in the Merchant Navy, and Rimma Malhotra, a homemaker. He was schooled at Delhi's Don Bosco School and Birla Vidya Niketan, and later attended Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. At the age of 18, Malhotra began modelling. Although he was successful, he decided to quit after four years because he was dissatisfied with the profession.

Interested to pursue an acting career, he successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by Anubhav Sinha. However, the film was shelved, following which he worked as an assistant director to Karan Johar on the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. In 2012, Malhotra made his acting debut with Johar's Student of the Year alongside Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. He was cast as Abhimanyu Singh, a scholarship student of limited financial means, who competes with his wealthy best friend Rohan (played by Dhawan) to win an annual school championship. Film critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN considered Malhotra's performance to be "earnest", adding that he had "a pleasing presence."Student of the Year was a financial success, grossing ₹700 million (US$10 million) domestically.