Pankaj Tripathi

Pankaj Tripathi made his debut in Tamil cinema with the film Kaala, which was released on 7 June 2018. He also appeared in the 2018 web series Mirzapur.

Pankaj Tripathi is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi films. He debuted in 2004 with a minor role in Run and Omkara and has since worked in more than 40 films and 60 television shows. Tripathi's breakthrough came in 2012 for his supporting role in the Gangs of Wasseypur film series. He has since received critical appraisal for multiple films, including Fukrey (2013), Masaan (2015), Nil Battey Sannata (2016), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), Newton (2017), Fukrey Returns (2017) and Stree (2018). For Newton, Tripathi earned several awards including a National Film Award – Special Mention.

Tripathi was born in Belsand, Barauli Bihar, a village in Gopalganj District in the Indian state of Bihar, to Pandit Banaras Tripathi and Hemwanti Devi, as the youngest of their four children. His father works as a farmer and priest. Tripathi also worked as a farmer until he was in the 11th standard at school. During festive seasons, he used to play the role of a girl in his village's natak which according to him was appreciated by the villagers and ultimately prompted him to make a career out of acting. He moved to Patna after high school where he studied in Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur. He did theatre and was active in college politics as a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Out of fear of failure in acting he also worked briefly for a Five Star hotel in Patna. After his stay of about seven years in Patna, he moved to Delhi to enroll in the National School of Drama, from where he graduated in 2004.

After graduating from the National School of Drama, Tripathi moved to Mumbai in 2004, and subsequently performed an uncredited role in the film Run. In 2012, he made his breakthrough, when he was widely acclaimed for his role in Gangs of Wasseypur. His audition for film went on for approximately eight hours. In 2008, he acted in the Bahubali TV series, and later in Powder on Sony TV which is now available on Netflix. In his early career, he played mostly negative roles and became synonymous with gangster characters. Later he played a variety of roles and won critical appraisal for the same. His first film as a lead actor was the 2017 film Gurgaon. His 2017 film Newton was India's official entry for the Academy Award in best foreign film category.

Tripathi married Mridula on 15 January 2004 and they have a daughter.