Paresh Rawal

Rawal was born and raised in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to a Gujarati family.

In 1987, Rawal married Swaroop Sampat, an actress and winner of the Miss India contest in 1979. Paresh and Swaroop have two sons, Aditya and Anirudh. He is an alumnus of Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics, Vile Parle, Mumbai. Rawal made his debut with the 1985 film Arjun in a supporting role. He was also part of the cast of the Doordarshan TV Serial, Bante Bigadte. It was the 1986 blockbuster Naam that established him as an actor with great talent. He then appeared in over 100 films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, mostly as the main villain, such as in Roop ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Kabzaa, King Uncle, Ram Lakhan, Daud, Baazi and so many more. In the 1990s, he also starred in the cult comedy Andaz Apna Apna in which he played a double role. Rawal was perceived as a character actor by both audiences and critics until the 2000 Bollywood cult classic Hera Pheri, after which he starred in many Hindi mainstream films as a lead actor or main protagonist. Rawal played the dim-witted, boisterous and kind-hearted Marathi landlord Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the film Hera Pheri, who takes in Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (Sunil Shetty) as paying guests in his house. Rawal's acting was a key reason for the major nationwide success the film received. For his performance, he won the Filmfare Best Comedian Award. He reprised his role as Baburao in the sequel to the film Phir Hera Pheri (2006), which was also successful.

Another notable lead role came in 2002 when Rawal portrayed one of three blind bank robbers in the hit film Aankhen, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, Aditya Pancholi, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and Sushmita Sen. Rawal, for the remainder of the 2000s, was seen in mainly comedy oriented multi-starrers, mostly amongst the lead protagonists such as in Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Hungama (2003), Hulchul (2004), Garam Masala (2005), Deewane Huye Paagal (2005), Malamaal Weekly (2006), Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Bhagam Bhag (2007), Shankar Dada MBBS (Telugu), Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Welcome, Mere Baap Pehle Aap (2008) and De Dana Dan (2009). In 2010, Rawal acted in the movie Aakrosh, based on honour killing.

In 2012, Rawal played the lead role in the movie OMG – Oh My God!. Akshay Kumar was seen supporting him, and both won rave reviews for their roles.

He has also had a very successful acting career in Gujarati plays, the latest one being Dear Father.

For television he has produced several Hindi soaps including Zee TV's Teen Bahuraaniyaan, Sahara One's Main Aisi Kyunn Hoon and Colors' Laagi Tujhse Lagan.

His latest notable release is Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju with Ranbir Kapoor. He plays actor Sunil Dutt's role in the movie.

He is also reprising his role as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in Hera Pheri 3 which was going to be released in 2024, but is 'on hold' as of May 2023.

On 10 September 2020 he was appointed the chief of the National School of Drama, by the President of India.

In 2021, Rawal appeared in sports drama Toofaan, a film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, alongside Farhan Akhtar, who is playing a national level boxer. The film was streamed worldwide on 16 July 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.

His other upcoming films are Welcome To The Jungle, Hera Pheri 3 and The Storyteller in which he will portray Satyajit Ray's famous character Tarini Khuro.