Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor is one of India‘s biggest movie stars and one of international cinema‘s most prolific and versatile actors. Through his off-screen role as a humanitarian and his stature as a prominent cultural ambassador to Hollywood and the world, he has exceeded his already distinct reputation to become known, quite simply, as an admirable man.

Born in the suburbs of Mumbai, India, on December 24, 1959, to agent-turned-film-producer Surinder Kapoor and his wife, Nirmal, Anil grew up surrounded by the burgeoning Mumbai film industry. Against his father‘s wishes, Anil decided as a teenager to pursue the ̳unstable‘ field of acting as a profession, and at age 19 he landed his first role — sparking a career that would span 30 years (and counting), with appearances in more than 150 films.

By the mid-eighties, Kapoor had become one of his country‘s most prolific, versatile and celebrated actors — renowned for continually reinventing himself in roles, from unusual characters to handsome leading men, while simultaneously delivering hit after hit.

Kapoor had amassed four Filmfare Awards (India‘s Oscars), a prestigious National Film Award for his role in the film Pukar, and an immeasurably widespread and loyal Indian fan base — all by the time he first burst into the American consciousness in 2008, playing the pivotal role of the quiz-show host in Danny Boyle‘s Oscar-sweeping hit, Slumdog Millionaire.

While Kapoor was recognized by his Hollywood peers with a Screen Actors Guild award for that role, his actions behind the scenes quietly brought him an entirely different wave of respect: Without fanfare, when he first signed on to the film, he donated his Slumdog salary to the production‘s otherwise destitute Mumbai-based child actors — paying for their education, for life, and giving them a shot at escaping the real-life slums from which Kapoor himself, thanks to the film industry, had risen many years ago.

For a man who hosted the first-ever fundraiser for Children‘s Right to Education in 2007; a man who had worked toward the reconstruction of schools in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir after India‘s devastating earthquakes that same year, it was a simple gesture. Kapoor had long established himself as a humanitarian, serving as an ambassador for Plan India and participating in numerous world concert tours for Indian settlers abroad. He also led the Learn Without Fear campaign to prevent violence against children in schools in 2008, and initiated a signature campaign (with his Slumdog peers) to prevent the exploitation and abuse of children in 2009.

As Kapoor continued to find critical success and achieve even greater American and international fame through a major arc on the final season of the TV series 24, he continued to work to improve the lives of others — not only through his ongoing dedication to Plan India, but by standing alongside Bill Gates and Desmond Tutu to support the International Rotary‘s campaign to end polio.

Kapoor began serving as an ambassador for CNN‘s Freedom Project, joining a host of other well-known celebrity humanitarians, including Demi Moore, Peter Gabriel and Ricky Martin, to draw awareness to modern-day slavery.

With a role opposite Tom Cruise in 2012‘s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, followed by a turn in Cities (with Clive Owen), Kapoor‘s ability to successfully bridge Hollywood and Indian cinema was only growing.

Meanwhile, Kapoor expects to continue his behind-the-scenes work in a long and successful career as a producer. Coming from a filmmaking family that has been producing films for the last 50 years, he has produced over 30 films through his various family-owned production houses.

One of his ventures, Gandhi, My Father, explored the strained relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his eldest son Harilal, and won three Special Jury National Awards in 2007. In 2010 he produced Aisha (based on Jane Austen‘s Emma); and the No Problem (an out and out comedy).

Kapoor is especially proud to see his legacy carried on by his family: Actress Sonam Kapoor (Anil‘s daughter with jewelry designer Sunita Kapoor, his wife since 1984) made her debut in Saawariya in 2007 and starred in the aforementioned Aisha. Together, Sonam and her father jointly served as brand ambassadors for Mont Blanc, and today she is the face of L‘Oreal India. Kapoor‘s second daughter, Rhea, is a film producer in Mumbai; and his youngest, Harshvardhan, is busy studying screenwriting in California.

© 2011 Paramount Pictures