Ranbir Kapoor

In film school, Kapoor directed and starred in two short films, entitled Passion to Love and India 1964.

The loneliness of living alone in New York City coupled with his experience in film school, which he described as "useless", inspired him to pursue a career in Hindi cinema.

His elder sister, Riddhima (born 1980), is an interior and fashion designer.

The actor Randhir Kapoor is his uncle, and his daughters, actresses Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, are his first cousins.

Kapoor is of Punjabi descent, born to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother.

He was educated at the Bombay Scottish School.

As a student, he found little interest in academics and would rank low among his peers.

However, he has stated that he performed better in sports, particularly football.

Kapoor has been vocal about how his parents' troubled marriage affected him as a child: "Sometimes the fights would get really bad. I would be sitting on the steps, my head between my knees, till five or six in the morning, waiting for them to stop".

These experiences led to a "reservoir of emotions building up inside [him]", which he said compelled him to develop an interest in film.

In his early years, Kapoor was close to his mother, but had a dysfunctional relationship with his father.

Ranbir Kapoor (, born 28 September 1982) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi-language films.

Ranbir Kapoor was born on 28 September 1982 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India to Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, both actors of the Hindi film industry.

He is the great-grandson of Prithviraj Kapoor and the grandson of actor-director Raj Kapoor.

After completing his tenth standard examinations, he worked as an assistant director to his father on the film Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999), during which he developed a closer bond with him.

After completing his pre-university education at the H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, Kapoor relocated to New York City to learn filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts and subsequently pursued method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

He subsequently assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the film Black (2005) and made his acting debut with Bhansali's tragic romance Saawariya (2007), a critical and commercial failure.

Upon returning to Mumbai, Kapoor was hired as an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the 2005 film Black.

He described the experience: "I was getting beaten up, abused, doing everything from cleaning the floor to fixing the lights from 7 a.m. to 4 a.m., but I was learning every day."

He later remarked that his motive for working on Black was to get Bhansali to offer him an acting job.

Following the release of Black, Bhansali cast Kapoor as the protagonist of his 2007 tragic romance Saawariya, alongside Sonam Kapoor and Rani Mukerji.

The film tells the story of a tramp, played by him, who falls obsessively in love with a woman awaiting the return of her lover.

In an interview with the news and entertainment portal Rediff.com, Kapoor stated that his character was written as a tribute to his grandfather's iconic roles as a tramp.

Saawariya was the first Indian film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Sony Pictures Entertainment), and was a highly anticipated release.

However, film critics were disappointed with the picture with BBC's Jaspreet Pandohar calling it a "misfire on a massive scale".

CNN-IBN Rajeev Masand considered it "contrived and fake", but was impressed by Kapoor's "affable charm" and wrote that "he's got that star quality to him which is so rare to find."

At the box office, Saawariya failed to earn profits.

However, at the annual Filmfare Awards ceremony, Kapoor was awarded a Best Male Debut trophy.

He rose to prominence with the coming-of-age film Wake Up Sid, the romantic comedy Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (both 2009), and the political drama Raajneeti (2010).

Kapoor's performances as a troubled musician in Rockstar (2011) and a cheerful deaf-and-mute man in Barfi! (2012) earned him two consecutive Filmfare Awards for Best Actor.

He is one of the highest-paid actors of Hindi cinema and has featured in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2012.

Kapoor is the recipient of several awards, including seven Filmfare Awards.

The son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and the grandson of actor-director Raj Kapoor, Kapoor pursued filmmaking and method acting at the School of Visual Arts and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, respectively.

The romantic comedy Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) further established him as a star.

This was followed by a series of commercial failures, with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) and Sanju (2018) being the exceptions.

His portrayal of Sanjay Dutt in the latter won him another Filmfare Award.

Following a hiatus, he had further commercial success in the fantasy film Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022) and the action thriller Animal (2023), with the latter emerging as his highest-grossing release and winning him a fourth Best Actor award at Filmfare.

In addition to his acting career, Kapoor supports charities and causes.

He is also a co-owner of the Indian Super League football team Mumbai City FC.

He is married to the actress Alia Bhatt, with whom he has a daughter.