Anil Kapoor (born 1 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in many Bollywood films, as well as international films and television series. His career has spanned almost 40 years as an actor, and as a producer since 2005. He has won many awards in his career, including two National Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards in different acting categories.

Kapoor made his Hindi film cameo appearance with Umesh Mehra’s Hamare Tumhare (1979) in a small role. He made his first debut film and then starred as a lead actor in the 1980 Telugu film, Vamsa Vruksham directed by Bapu. He then made his Kannada film debut with Mani Ratnam’s Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1984). He received his first Filmfare Award, in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his role in Yash Chopra’s Mashaal (1984). Kapoor earned his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in N. Chandra’s Tezaab (1988) and later again for his performance in Indra Kumar’s Beta (1992). He has also starred in many other critically and commercially successful films: Meri Jung (1985); Karma (1986); Mr. India (1987); Virasat (1997), for which he won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor; Taal (1999), for which he won his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award; Pukar (2000), for which he won a National Film Award for Best Actor; No Entry (2005); Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) for which he won his third Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award.

Kapoor’s first role in an international film was in Danny Boyle’s Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. His performance in the eighth season of the action series 24 generated rave reviews from the American press.Globally, Kapoor is one of the most recognised Indian actors.