Jackie Shroff (born 1 February 1957) is an Indian actor who has appeared in more than 220 films in Hindi and over a dozen other languages. Raised in a Mumbai chawl, he became a star overnight with Subhash Ghai’s Hero (1983) and was one of Hindi cinema’s leading men for the next fifteen years. He is affectionately known as “Jaggu Dada” and is the father of the actor Tiger Shroff.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Jai Kishan Kakubhai Shroff |
| Born | 1 February 1957, Bombay (now Mumbai), India |
| Age | 69 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse | Ayesha Shroff (m. 1987) |
| Children | 2 (Tiger and Krishna) |
| Known for | Hero, Parinda, Ram Lakhan, Rangeela, Devdas |
Early Life
Shroff grew up in a one-room home in a chawl at Teen Batti in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill area. His father, Kakubhai, was a Gujarati astrologer, and his mother, Rita, was of Uyghur descent from Kazakhstan. His elder brother drowned when Jackie was ten. He left school after the eleventh standard and worked as an apprentice chef and at a travel agency, where an advertising man spotted him at a bus stop and offered him modelling work.
Career
He had a small part as a villain’s henchman in Dev Anand‘s Swami Dada (1982). Subhash Ghai then cast him in Hero, shortening his name to Jackie. The film and its flute theme were a sensation.
He starred in Karma, Kaash, Tridev and Ram Lakhan (1989), paired with Anil Kapoor, and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda (1989). In the 1990s he was in Saudagar, Khalnayak, Gardish, 1942: A Love Story and Rangeela (1995), both of which won him Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor, and Border.
He played Chunnilal in Devdas (2002) and has since taken character and villain roles in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi films, including Aaranya Kaandam (2011), Dhoom 3, Bharat and Jailer (2023).
Personal Life
Shroff married Ayesha Dutt, a former model who became a film producer, on her birthday in 1987. He is known for his tapori Mumbai slang, his habit of gifting saplings and his support for organic farming, thalassaemia charities and environmental causes. In 2024 the Delhi High Court protected his name, voice and nickname “Bhidu” from unauthorised commercial use.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Jackie Shroff born?
Jackie Shroff was born on 1 February 1957 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India and is 69 years old.
What is Jackie Shroff known for?
Known for: Hero, Parinda, Ram Lakhan, Rangeela, Devdas.
Featured image: Jackie Shroff at the Pune Festival, February 2007. Photo by Ramakrishna Reddy Y, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
