Sidharth Malhotra is a dashing Bollywood actor, (born 16 January 1985) 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.

Apart from acting in films, Malhotra is an endorser of several brands and products, such as Coca-Cola, Corneto, and American Swan. He also does charity work. In 2013, Malhotra performed at an event alongside Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor and Huma Qureshi to raise funds for the flood-affected victims of Uttarakhand.