Nawazuddin Siddiqui (born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema.
Siddiqui was born on 19 May 1974 in Budhana, a small town in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, into a zamindari Muslim family of Lambardars.
He is the eldest of eight siblings.
He spent most of his youth in Uttarakhand.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar.
Following this, he worked as a chemist in Vadodara for a year, before leaving for Delhi in search of a new job.
Once in Delhi, he was instantly drawn to acting after watching a play.
In pursuit of securing admission to the National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi, he acted in over ten plays with a group of friends, including one in Dehradun, to fulfill one of the criteria for admission.
He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama.
1999
After graduating in 1999, he moved to Mumbai.
He made his Bollywood debut in the year 1999 with a small role in the Aamir Khan starrer Sarfarosh.
He then appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's 1999 film Shool and the 2000 film Jungle, as well as Rajkumar Hirani's Munnabhai MBBS (2003).
After moving to Mumbai, he tried to get work in television serials but did not achieve much success.
2002
Beyond that, between 2002 and 2005, he was largely out of work and lived in a flat that he shared with four other people, surviving by conducting occasional acting workshops.
2003
He did a short film, The Bypass, in 2003, where he appeared with Irrfan Khan.
2004
In 2004, which was one of the worst years of his struggle, Siddiqui couldn't pay rent.
He asked an NSD senior if he could stay with him.
The senior allowed him to share his apartment in Goregaon suburb if he was willing to cook meals for him.
Between 2004 and 2007, Siddiqui had a few minor roles, including in the film Black Friday, which came out in 2007 and was a nominee for the Golden Leopard.
2007
He gained international recognition for his work in Black Friday (2007), Kahaani (2011), the 2012 Gangs of Wasseypur duology, and Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016).
The actor has won several awards, including a National Film Award, an IIFA Award, and two Filmfare Awards, as well as a nomination for an International Emmy.
2009
In 2009, he appeared in a cameo role in the song "Emotional Atyachar" in the movie Dev D, playing the role of Rangila.
He performed a duet with Rasila (known together as Patna ke Presley).
In the same year, he appeared in New York.
2010
However, it was his role of a journalist in Anusha Rizvi's 2010 film Peepli Live, that first got him wide recognition as an actor.
2012
He is known for his roles in Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), The Lunchbox (2013), Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), and Manto (2018), among others.
As many as eight films in which he features have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
He has won numerous awards, including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, and two Filmfare OTT Awards.
Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in Patang (2012).
In 2012, he appeared in Prashant Bhargava's Patang: The Kite, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.
Siddiqui's performance was praised by film critic Roger Ebert, who stated that the role "transformed his acting style" and he awarded the actor the 'Thumbsup Trophy'.
The film was subsequently released in the U.S. and Canada and garnered much attention, with rave reviews from The New York Times.
Siddiqui then appeared in the 2012 film Kahaani, in which he played the archetypal short-tempered intelligence officer Khan.
Anurag Kashyap's gangster epic Gangs of Wasseypur followed, which furthered the actor's fame.
He played his first primary role as Sonu Duggal in Ashim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, a role Siddiqui describes as his "most real performance so far".
Siddiqui then followed this with the sequel to Gangs of Wasseypur.
2013
In 2013, he played the lead role in the horror flick Aatma.
The Lunchbox premiered as part of the Critics' Week section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and won him multiple awards.
2019
He has starred in two Emmy-nominated series, Sacred Games (2019) and the British McMafia.
Siddiqui went to the National School of Drama in New Delhi.
