Akshay Kumar Biography

Akshay Kumar was born (born 9 September 1967) in Amritsar, Punjab, India, to Hari Om Bhatia and Aruna Bhatia in a Punjabi family. His father was an army officer. From a young age, Kumar was very interested in sports. His father too enjoyed wrestling. He lived and grew up in Delhi's Chandni Chowk and later he moved to Mumbai when his father left Army to become an accountant with UNICEF. Soon, his sister was born and the family lived in Koliwada, a Punjabi dominated area of Central Mumbai. He received his school education from Don Bosco School, simultaneously learning Karate. He enrolled in Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College for higher education, but dropped out as he was not much interested in studies. He requested his father that he wanted to learn martial arts further, and his father somehow saved money to send him to Thailand. Kumar went to Bangkok to learn martial arts and lived in Thailand for five years learning Thai Boxing. Kumar also has a sister, Alka Bhatia. When Kumar was a teenager, his father asked him what he aspired to be. Kumar expressed his desire to become an actor.

After having obtained a black belt in Taekwondo while in India, he studied martial arts in Bangkok, Thailand, where he learned Muay Thai and worked as a chef and waiter. After Thailand, Kumar went to work in Kolkata in a travel agency, in Dhaka in a hotel and Delhi where he sold Kundan jewellery. Upon his return to Mumbai, he commenced the teaching of martial arts.

Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an Indian-born Canadian actor, producer, martial artist and television personality who works in Bollywood films. In a career spanning over 29 years, Kumar has appeared in over 100 films and has won several awards, including the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Rustom (2016), and two Filmfare Awards for Ajnabee (2001) and Garam Masala (2005).

Kumar is one of the most successful Bollywood actors of all time, having starred in 113 films, 52 of which were commercially successful. He was the first Bollywood actor whose films' domestic net lifetime collections crossed ₹20 billion (US$280 million) by 2013, and ₹30 billion (US$420 million) by 2016. Having done so, he has established himself as one of the prominent actors of Hindi cinema. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films. Later, Kumar also gained fame for his drama, romantic and comic roles.

Apart from acting, Kumar has worked as a stunt actor; he has often performed many dangerous stunts in his films, which has earned him the sobriquet "Indian Jackie Chan". In 2008, he hosted the show Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi. In 2009, he founded the Hari Om Entertainment production company and Grazing Goat Pictures production company in 2012. In 2014, Kumar launched the TV reality show Dare 2 Dance. He also owns the team Khalsa Warriors in the World Kabaddi League. As of 2019, Kumar was on the Forbes list of the highest paid entertainers in the world, and he was the highest paid in India.

In 2008, the University of Windsor conferred an honorary Doctorate on Kumar in recognition of his contribution to Indian cinema. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. In 2011, The Asian Awards honoured Kumar for his outstanding achievement in cinema.