Irfan Khan is from Jaipur, India. He was studying for his M.A. degree when he snagged a fellowship at (NSD) National School of Drama in 1984. After graduating in 1987, he moved to Mumbai. Theater and television kept him afloat till Mira Nair offered him a cameo in “Salaam Bombay”. But the role was edited out of the final copy.

He continued to dabble in television making impacts on various soaps and tele-historicals series. To break away from television Irfan featured in few main stream movies but none of them were a box-office success.

He got his first break in movies with Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988). However his scene was deleted before the release. He was seen in Tapan Sinha’s Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) with Shabana Azmi which won the National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film among others.

But things changed when Landon based director Asif Kapadia gave him the lead in “The Warrior”. An historical film completed in 11 weeks on the locals in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

“The Warrior” stormed in international film festivals making Irfan Khan a noticed actor. His first Bollywood main lead role came in the movie “Rog”.

Following this, he was seen in several commercial ventures like Kasoor (2001), Gunaah (2002) and Haasil (2003). His role in the latter won him a Filmfare Best Actor in a negative Role Award. In Vishal Bharadwaj’s Maqbool (2004), an adaptation of Macbeth, he played the role of Macbeth.

Riding on his success, he acted in 7 ‘Phere (2005) with Juhi Chawla and Naseeruddin Shah’s Yun Hota Tho Kya Hota (2006) about the 9/11 attacks.

Irrfan Khan was the chosen one for the 2007 release The Mighty Heart. It was based on a book by Marianne Pearl about the slaying of her journalist husband Daniel Pearl. The movie starred Angelina Jolie and Irrfan Khan as Javid Habib who is helping in the investigations of the journalist’s disappearance.

He was part of Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro (2007) that won him the Best Supporting Actor Award. He worked with director Mira Nair and actress Tabu in The Namesake (2007), an adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s book by the same name. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance as Ashok Ganguly.

Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)about the Mumbai train bombings in 2006 saw him as Thomas, a coffee vendor. The movie opened to positive reviews.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2009) won several awards internationally. He played a police inspector investigating a possible fraud when a boy from the slums wins on the television show Who Wants to be a Millionaire’

His other releases in 2009 are Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s Delhi 6; Billu Barber with Shah Rukh Khan, based on the story of Krishna and Sudhama and New York about the 9/11 terrorist attack.

He is married to writer Sutapa Sikdar who’s also a NSD graduate and they have a son named Babil.

Awards Received By Irfan Khan

2011 Khan receiving his Padma Shri
2007 Independent Spirit Awards The Namesake Best Supporting Male Nominated
2008 Filmfare Awards Life in a… Metro Best Supporting Actor Won
2011 Padma Shri — Arts Won
2013 National Film Awards Paan Singh Tomar Best Actor Won
2014 Asian Film Awards The Lunchbox Best Actor Won
2018 Filmfare Awards Hindi Medium Best Actor Won

Films Done By Irfan Khan

1988 Salaam Bombay! Letter writer nominated for Oscars
1989 Kamla Ki Maut Ajit
1990 Drishti Rahul
1990 Ek Doctor Ki Maut Amulya
1991 Pita Dr.Sen
1991 Jazeere Alfred TV movie
1992 Mujhse Dosti Karoge Mir Hassan
1993 Karamati Coat Jaggu
1994 The Cloud Door Irfan Short
1994 Vaade Iraade Naresh Tripathi
1994 Purush
1995 Adhura
1997 Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One Inspector Khan
1998 Such a Long Journey Gustad’s dad
1998 Bada Din Police Inspector
1999 The Goal (Hindi) Anupam Singh
2000 Ghaath Mamu / Romesh Bhagwat Dogra
2001 Kasoor Public Prosecutor Nitin Mehta
2001 The Warrior Lafcadia – Warrior
2002 Kali Salwar Shankar
2002 Gunaah Digvijay Pandey
2002 Pratha Priest Ninni Pandey
2002 Haathi ka Anda Badruddin
2002 Bokshu, The Myth High priest (Tantric yogi) Indian English film
2003 Dhund: The fog Ajit Khurana
2003 Haasil Ranvijay Singh
2003 Supari Baba
2003 Footpath Sheikh
2003 The Bypass Policeman Short Film
2003 Maqbool Miyan Maqbool
2004 Charas: A Joint Operation Randhir Singh Rathore a.k.a. Policeman
2004 Aan: Men at Work Yusuf Pathan
2004 Shadows of Time Yani Mishra
2004 Road to Ladakh Terrorist Short Film
2005 Rog Inspector Uday Rathore
2005 Chehraa Chandranath Diwan
2005 Chocolate Pipi
2005Phere Manoj
2005 The Film Shamim Bhai Voice
2005 Dubai Return Aftab Angrez
2006 Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota Salim Rajabali
2006 The Killer Vikram / Roopchand Swaroopchand Solanki
2006 The Namesake Ashoke Ganguli
2006 Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante Krish Vaidya
2006 Sainikudu Pappu Yadav Telugu film
2006 Mr. 100% Mr. Perfect
2007 Partition Avtar English movie
2007 Life in a… Metro Monty
2007 A Mighty Heart Zeeshan Kazmi English movie
2007 The Darjeeling Limited The Father English movie
2007 Apna Asmaan Ravi Kumar
2007 Aaja Nachle Farooque – Najma’s husband
2007 The Namesake Ashoke Ganguli English movie
2008 Tulsi Suraj
2008 Sunday Kumar Mangat
2008 One Two Three Narrator
2008 Krazzy 4 Dr. Mukherjee
2008 Mumbai Meri Jaan Thomas
2008 Chamku Vishal Kapoor
2008 Migration Short film
2008 Slumdog Millionaire Police Inspector English movie
2008 New York, I Love You Mansukhbhai English movie, (segment “Mira Nair”)
2008 Dil Kabaddi Samit
2009 Billu Billu Barber / Vilas Pardesi
2009 New York Roshan (FBI Official)
2009 Acid Factory Kaiser
2010 Right Yaaa Wrong Inspector Vinay Patnaik
2010 Knock Out Bachhoo Bhai / Tony Khosla
2010 Hisss Inspector Vikram Gupta
2011 Yeh Saali Zindagi Arun
2011 7 Khoon Maaf Wasiullah Khan a.k.a. Musafir
2011 Thank You Vikram
2012 Paan Singh Tomar Paan Singh Tomar Won National Award for Best Actor
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Dr. Rajit Ratha English movie
2012 Life of Pi Adult Piscine Molitor Patel (“Pi”) English movie
2013 Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns Indrajeet Singh
2013 The Lunchbox Saajan Fernandes India’s official entry to Oscars
2013 Meridian Lines Devraj
2013 D-Day RAW Agent Wali Khan
2013 Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost Umber Singh
2014 Gunday A.C.P. Satyajeet Sarkar
2014 The Xpose Alec D’Costa Special Appearance
2014 Haider Roohdaar
2015 Piku Rana Chaudhary
2015 Jurassic World Simon Masrani English movie
2015 Jazbaa Inspector Yohan
2015 Talvar Ashwin Kumar
2015 Bajirao Mastani Narrator Voice, Uncredited
2016 The Jungle Book Baloo Voice, Hindi dubbed version
2016 Madaari Nirmal Kumar
2016 Inferno Harry “The Provost” Sims English movie
2017 Hindi Medium Raj Batra
2017 Doob: No Bed of Roses Javed Hasan Bangladesh-India joint venture film
2017 The Song of Scorpions Aadam
2017 Qarib Qarib Singlle Yogi
2018 Puzzle Robert English movie
2018 Blackmail Dev Kaushal
2018 Karwaan Shaukat
2020 Angrezi Medium Champak Bansal (Irrfan’s last film)

Television Done By Irfan Khan

1987 Shrikant
1988 Bharat Ek Khoj Abd al-Qadir Bada’uni Episodes 32 and 33
1991 Kahkashan
1992 Chanakya “Senapati” Bhadrashal
1993 Shesh Prashn Shivnaath
1993 Kirdaar
1994 Chandrakanta “Badrinath / Somnath”
1994 The Great Maratha Najib-ud-daula and Gulam Kadir Khan
1995 Banegi Apni Baat Kumar
1996 Just Mohabbat “Mr. Singh” Episodes 4 and 5
1997 Jai Hanuman Maharishi Valmiki
1997 Bombay Blue Rameez
1997-98 Satya Advocate
1998 Sparsh
1999 Star Bestsellers Episode “Ek Shaam Ke Mulaqaat”
1999 Geeta Rashasya Kans
2000 X Zone Magician Rahul Episode 121 (Kirdar)
2000 Darr Serial Killer
2003 Ssshhhh…Koi Hai Amar Episode 9 (Mumkin)
2004 Kyaa Kahein Host
2006 Mano Ya Na Mano Host
2007 Don Host
2009 MTV Hero Honda Roadies 7 Himself
2010 In Treatment Sunil
2016 Tokyo Trial Radhabinod Pal