Bobby Deol

Biography

Bobby Deol, born Vijay Singh Deol in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 27 January 1969, is an Indian actor who works mainly in Hindi cinema, with a few Tamil and Telugu films along the way. He belongs to the Deol family, one of Bollywood's best-known acting dynasties: he is the son of actor Dharmendra and the younger brother of actor Sunny Deol. Over a career of more than three decades he has taken on a wide range of unconventional roles, both in theatrical films and on streaming platforms.

Deol first appeared as a child in Dharam Veer (1977) and had his first lead role in the romance Barsaat (1995), directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, which won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He then starred in commercially successful action thrillers such as Gupt (1997), Soldier (1998), Badal and Bichhoo (both 2000), Ajnabee (2001) and Humraaz (2002), the last earning him a Filmfare Best Actor nomination. He worked repeatedly with the duo Abbas-Mustan and with Vikram Bhatt, and his films often explore jealousy, deception, revenge and love triangles.

After a commercial lull between 2003 and 2017, which included Jurm (2005) and Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai (2006), he regained visibility with Race 3 (2018) and, above all, with streaming projects in the 2020s. His turn as the antagonist in the action drama Animal (2023) earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is married to Tanya Ahuja and they have two sons.

Key films

• Barsaat (1995), his lead debut, which brought him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.
• Gupt (1997), a thriller in which he plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder.
• Soldier (1998), his first collaboration with Abbas-Mustan and a major box-office hit.
• Humraaz (2002), which earned him a Filmfare Best Actor nomination.
• Race 3 (2018), one of his biggest commercial successes after a slow period.
• Animal (2023), an antagonist role that earned him a Filmfare nomination.