Pankaj Tripathi

Pankaj Tripathi (Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor, who predominantly works in Hindi films.

He is the recipient of several awards, including two National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award.

Tripathi was born on 28 September 1976 in a Bhojpuri-speaking Maithil Brahmin family in Belsand village of Barauli in Gopalganj District of the Indian state of Bihar, to Pandit Benares Tiwari and Hemwanti Tiwari as the youngest of their four children.

His father worked as a farmer and Hindu priest.

Tripathi's original last name was Tiwari, which he changed legally to Tripathi in school as a 9th grader.

Newton was also India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

After appearing in an uncredited role in the Kannada-language drama Chigurida Kanasu (2003), Tripathi moved to Mumbai in 2004.

After his seven years stay in Patna, he moved to Delhi to enroll in the National School of Drama, from where he graduated in 2004.

His first role in Hindi cinema was as a politician in a Tata Tea advertisement, followed by an uncredited role in the romantic action film Run (2004).

During the early period of his career, he mostly played antagonistic roles and became synonymous with gangster characters.

He appeared in various Hindi films in minor roles, including Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Apaharan (2005), 'Omkara' (2006), Shaurya (2008), Raavan (2010), Aakrosh (2010), Chillar Party (2011), and Agneepath (2012).

After studying acting at the National School of Drama, Tripathi had minor roles in such films as Omkara (2006), Raavan (2010) and Agneepath (2012), and had a supporting role in the television series Powder (2010).

He also appeared in the TV series Bahubali and the crime drama TV series Powder (2010) on Sony TV, as well as in a few daily soaps such as Zindagi Ka Har Rang...Gulaal (2010–11) and Sarojini - Ek Nayi Pehal (2015–16).

Tripathi also worked as a farmer with his father until he was in the 11th standard at school.

During the festive seasons, he used to play the role of a girl in his village's local play (natak).

Tripathi moved to Patna after high school where he studied at Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur.

Tripathi gained recognition for his role in Anurag Kashyap's crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), after which he had several notable supporting roles.

In 2012, he played his first major screen role as Sultan in the crime drama duology Gangs of Wasseypur.

It proved to be Tripathi's breakthrough and brought him recognition, post which he continued to star in minor roles in films such as the action films Dabangg 2 (2012), Gunday (2014), Singham Returns (2014) and Dilwale (2015).

These include Fukrey (2013), Masaan (2015), Nil Battey Sannata (2016), Bareilly Ki Barfi, Fukrey Returns (both 2017), Stree (2018), Ludo , Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (both 2020), and 83 (2021).

His performance in Newton (2017) won him the National Film Award – Special Mention and his performance in Mimi (2021) won him the National Film Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He has since starred in the commercially successful satire OMG 2 (2023).

Tripathi's first film as a lead actor was the neo-noir thriller Gurgaon (2017), which earned critical acclaim but emerged as a commercial disaster at the box-office.

The same year, he also appeared in pivotal roles in several critical and commercially successful films such as the romantic comedy-drama Bareilly Ki Barfi and the comedy Fukrey Returns.

He followed it up with the black comedy-drama Newton alongside Rajkummar Rao, which earned him critical acclaim, winning the National Film Award – Special Mention, in addition to his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Tripathi has also had leading roles in several streaming series, including Mirzapur (2018–present) and Criminal Justice (2019–2022), and in the streaming film Kaagaz (2021).

He has also appeared in the Tamil film Kaala (2018) and the English film Extraction (2020).

In 2018, he starred alongside Rao and Shraddha Kapoor in the horror comedy Stree, which earned him high critical acclaim and the Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor, in addition to his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Later that year, he made his debut in Tamil cinema with the Rajinikanth-starrer action drama Kaala.

The same year, he also starred as Akhandanand Tripathi a.k.a. "Kaleen Bhaiya", a mafia don in the Amazon Prime crime drama thriller web series Mirzapur (2018–present) which earned him widespread critical acclaim and recognition, and a nomination for the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the second season.

The same year, he starred as Khanna Guruji, a spiritual leader alongside Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Kalki Koechlin and Ranvir Shorey in the second season of the neo-noir crime thriller Sacred Games (2018–19), which earned him high critical acclaim and a second nomination for the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

In 2019, Tripathi starred in several critically acclaimed supporting roles in commercial successes such as the romantic comedy-drama Luka Chuppi, the drama thriller The Tashkent Files and the biographical drama Super 30.

He also starred in the Disney+ Hotstar legal drama web series Criminal Justice as a lawyer, and reprised his role in the second (Behind Closed Doors (2020)) and third season (Adhura Sach (2022)).

The second season earned him a nomination for the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor In A Drama Series.

In 2020, Tripathi starred alongside Chris Hemsworth, Randeep Hooda and David Harbour in his first Hollywood film, the Netflix action thriller Extraction.

The same year, he received dual nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in the biographical drama Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and the black comedy Ludo. His performance in the latter won the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2021, for a second consecutive year, Tripathi received dual nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his widely acclaimed performances in the social comedy-drama Mimi and the biographical sports drama 83, winning the award for Mimi.

His performance in Mimi also earned him the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The same year, he also starred in the ZEE5 biographical comedy Kaagaz (2021), which earned him a nomination for the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor in A Web Original Film.

In 2023, he starred in the satirical comedy-drama OMG 2 alongside Akshay Kumar and Yami Gautam and the comedy Fukrey 3.