Akshay Kumar Height Weight Age Body Statistics Biography

Akshay Kumar Height Weight Age Biography Family Wiki Net Worth, Affairs, Marriage & much more. Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an Indian-born naturalized Canadian actor, film producer, martial artist and television personality who works in Bollywood, the commercial Hindi language film industry based mainly in Mumbai. Over 29 years, Kumar has appeared in over 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Award for Best Actor and two Filmfare Awards. Kumar is one of the most successful prolific actors of Hindi cinema. 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$270 million) by 2013, and ₹30 billion (US$400 million) by 2016.

Kumar began his career in 1991 with Saugandh, but his first mainstream success came a year later with the action thriller Khiladi. The film established him as an action star in the 1990s and was the first of several films starring Kumar which would later become commonly known as the Khiladi film series, in addition to a string of other action films. Although his early tryst with romance in Yeh Dillagi (1994) was positively received, it was in the next decade that Kumar expanded his range of roles. He gained recognition for the romantic films Dhadkan (2000), Andaaz (2003) and Namastey London (2007), as well as drama films such as Waqt (2005) and Patiala House (2011). His comic performances in films such as Hera Pheri (2000), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) and Singh Is Kinng (2008) met with acclaim.

Kumar won Filmfare Awards for his negative role in Ajnabee (2001) and his comic performance in Garam Masala (2005). While his career had fluctuated commercially, his mainstream success soared in 2007 with four consecutive box-office hits in India; it was consistent until a short period of professional setbacks between 2009 and 2011, after which he reinforced his status with several films, including Rowdy Rathore (2012) and Holiday (2014). Moreover, around this time the critical response to several of his films improved; after favorable reviews came his way for his work in Special 26 (2013), Baby and Airlift (2016), he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the crime thriller Rustom (2016). He earned further notice for the social films Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) and Pad Man (2018) and the war film Kesari (2019).

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 2008, the University of Windsor conferred an honorary doctorate on Kumar. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri the fourth-highest civil honour by the Government of India. 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 2015 and 2019, Kumar was on the Forbes list of highest-paid entertainers in the world, ranking 52nd with earnings of $48.5 million. and the only Bollywood actor on the list. In 2020, he was ranked as the highest-paid Bollywood actor by Forbes.

Sometime during or after the 2011 Canadian federal election, the Conservative government granted Canadian citizenship to Kumar by invoking a little-known law that allowed circumventing the usual residency requirement for Canadian immigrants. According to a former Conservative Party minister, Tony Clement, the citizenship was awarded in return for Kumar’s offer of putting his “star power to use to advance Canada-Indian relations”, and Canada’s “trade relations, commercial relations, in the movie sector, in the tourism sector”.

Early life and Background

Kumar was born 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 Bombay (present-day 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 Bombay.

He received his school education from Don Bosco High School, Matunga, simultaneously learning Karate. He enrolled in 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 Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) in a travel agency, in Dhaka in a hotel as a chef and in Delhi where he sold Kundan jewelry. Upon his return to Bombay, he commenced the teaching of martial arts.

During this time, the father of one of his students, himself a model co-ordinator, recommended Kumar into modeling which ultimately led to a modeling assignment for a furniture showroom. Kumar effectively made more money within the first two days of shooting than in his entire month’s salary and therefore chose a modeling career path. He worked as an assistant for photographer Jayesh Sheth for 18 months without payment to shoot his first portfolio. He also worked as a background dancer in various films. One morning, he missed his flight for an ad shoot in Bangalore. Disappointed with himself, he visited a film studio along with his portfolio. That evening, Kumar was signed for a lead role by producer Pramod Chakravarthy for the movie Deedar.

Personal life and Off-screen Work

After being engaged twice to actress Twinkle Khanna, the daughter of actors Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, Kumar married her on 17 January 2001. Together they have a son, and a daughter. He is known as a protective father and keeps his children away from the media. He stated that he wants to “give them a normal childhood.” In 2009, while performing at a show for Levis at Lakme Fashion Week, Kumar asked Twinkle to unbutton his jeans. This incident sparked a controversy which led to a police case being filed against them.

Kumar stays in shape with a combination of kickboxing, basketball, swimming and Parkour as well as working out. While in standard eighth he had started practising Karate. He intended to open a martial arts school and the state government of Maharashtra allotted land for the school in Bhayandar. In 2004, he was honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Award for his outstanding achievements in Bollywood. In the same year, he presented the television series Seven Deadly Arts with Akshay Kumar for free. The following year Kumar was awarded the highest Japanese honour of “Katana” and a sixth-degree black belt in Kuyukai Gōjū-ryū karate.

Kumar was initially a religious, practising Shaiva Hindu who regularly visited shrines and temples across the country, including the famed Vaishno Devi Mandir, but in March 2020 he stated, “I don’t believe in any religion. I only believe in being Indian”. He is a teetotaller but has endorsed for a liquor brand in the past. Half of the sum was given for daan (charity work), of which he has been doing more of in recent times. He has also donated ₹5 million (US$66,000) to Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation. As of 2013, Kumar has been the Hindi film industry’s highest advance taxpayer for six consecutive years. He paid ₹190 million (US$2.5 million) as advance tax payment in that year.

On 9 August 2014, Kumar performed at his 500th live show. The show was held in O2 Arena in London as part of the inaugural function of the World Kabaddi League. His first live show was held in 1991 in Delhi. Kumar owns Bengal Warriors a team in the Indian Kabbadi League. He helped Khanna with editing the drafts of her debut book Mrs Funnybones. Kumar also had donated a sum of ₹9 million to drought-hit farmers in Maharashtra in 2015. He has also donated ₹5 million to aid drought-affected people through the Maharashtra government’s Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan. In March 2013, he started a 30-bed cancer shelter for policemen in Naigaon.

On 9 April 2017, Kumar and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh promoted a mobile phone app, Bharat Ke Veer, which allows users to donate money to families of people who sacrificed their lives for India. Again on 20 January 2018, he participated in the launch of an Anthem for the initiative. In an event in Delhi he appealed for people to donate to the Bharat Ke Veer cause, and ₹129.3 million (equivalent to ₹150 million or US$2.0 million in 2020) was collected.