Suraj Sharma

Suraj Sharma
Sharma in November 2012
Born	(1993-03-21) 21 March 1993 (age 23) New Delhi, India
Alma mater	St. Stephen's College, Delhi
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2010–present

Suraj Sharma (born 21 March 1993) is an Indian actor, who made his debut with 2012 film Life of Pi. Directed by Ang Lee, Life of Pi was adapted from the novel of the same name. In 2014, he portrayed Aayan Ibrahim in season 4 of the Showtime series Homeland.

Suraj Sharma was born and brought up in a Malayali family in New Delhi, India. His father, Gokul Churai, is a software engineer from Thalassery, Kerala and his mother, Shailaja, is an economist from Palakkad, Kerala. He attended Sardar Patel Vidyalaya school. He has a younger brother, Sriharsh Sharma, who has also acted in two films, and a younger sister, Dhruvatara Sharma. With no prior acting experiences, he auditioned along with his brother for the role of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel in Life of Pi (2012). Sharma went through several rounds of auditions before winning the title role. Director Ang Lee has stated that he selected Sharma primarily based on his expressive eyes and innocent appearance. According to him, Sharma had not only the emotion, but also the "look" of Pi. His "medium complexion" and "average build" were deemed perfect for the role. The film was met with critical acclaim, winning four Academy Awards; Sharma's performance received positive reviews, and he was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Since filming Life of Pi, Sharma returned to studying philosophy at St. Stephen's College, Delhi of Delhi University. He intends to continue working in filmmaking in some capacity. He is currently undertaking a Mass Communication course at New York University. In 2014, he portrayed Aayan Ibrahim, nephew of a terrorist, in season 4 of the Showtime political thriller series Homeland. That same year, he portrayed Rinku Singh in the sports biopic Million Dollar Arm. He then co-starred with Tony Revolori in the Indian comedy-drama Umrika, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. In 2016, he will appear in the Mongolian-American adventure drama film Burn Your Maps. He also begins filming his first Bollywood venture, Anshai Lal's romance comedy Phillauri, co-starring Anushka Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh.