He won the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 67th National Film Awards for his performance in the film Bhonsle.
He also won Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor, for The Family Man (2021).
1969
Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films.
He is the recipient of numerous accolades including three National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards, and two Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Bajpayee was born in a pious Hindu family on 23 April 1969 in a small village called Belwa near the city Bettiah in West Champaran, Bihar.
He is the second child among his five other siblings, and was named after actor Manoj Kumar.
One of his younger sisters Poonam Dubey, is a fashion designer in the film industry.
His father was a farmer and his mother was a housewife.
As a son of a farmer, Bajpayee would do farming during their vacation.
Since childhood, he wanted to become an actor.
His father had difficulty collecting money for their education.
He studied in a "hut school" till fourth standard, and later did his schooling at Khrist Raja High School, Bettiah.
1994
Bajpayee made his feature film debut with a one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994) and a minor role as a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen (1994).
Following his one-minute role in Govind Nihalani's Drohkaal (1994), Bajpayee acted in the biographical drama Bandit Queen (1994).
Tigmanshu Dhulia, the casting director of the film suggested his name to its director Shekhar Kapur.
Bajpai was considered for the role of dacoit Vikram Mallah in the film, which eventually went to Nirmal Pandey.
1998
After a few unnoticed roles, he played the gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough.
Bajpayee received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film.
He met actress Shabana Raza, who is also known as Neha, right after her debut film Kareeb (1998).
1999
He then acted in films such as Kaun? (1999) and Shool (1999).
For the latter, he won his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.
2003
Bajpayee won the Special Jury National Award for Pinjar (2003).
This was followed by a series of brief, unnoticed roles in films that failed to propel his career forward.
2006
The couple married in 2006 and they have a daughter.
2010
He then played a greedy politician in the political thriller Raajneeti (2010), which was highly appreciated.
2012
In 2012, Bajpayee played the critically acclaimed lead character Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur.
His next roles were as a Naxalite in Chakravyuh (2012), and a CBI officer in Special 26 (2013).
He completed his 12th class from Maharani Janaki Kunwar College in Bettiah.
He moved to New Delhi at the age of seventeen and went to Satyawati, then to Ramjas College, Delhi University.
Bajpayee had heard about the National School of Drama from actors such as Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah, so he applied.
He was rejected three times and wanted to commit suicide afterward.
He then attended director and acting coach Barry John's workshop after actor Raghubir Yadav's suggestion.
Impressed by Bajpayee's acting, John hired him to assist him in his teaching.
After that he applied at the National School of Drama for the fourth time, and they offered him a teaching position at the school instead.
Bajpayee was married to a girl from Delhi, but got divorced during his period of struggle.
2016
In 2016, he portrayed Professor Ramchandra Siras, in Hansal Mehta's biographical drama Aligarh, for which he won his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor and the Best Actor Award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2016.
2019
In 2019, he was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, for his contributions to art.
Born in Belwa, a small village near the city of Bettiah in West Champaran district Bihar, Bajpayee aspired to become an actor since childhood.
He relocated to Delhi at the age of seventeen, and applied for the National School of Drama, only to be rejected four times.
He continued to do theatre while studying in college.
