Rajkummar Rao (born 31 August 1984) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Trained at the Film and Television Institute of India, he made his name in small, realistic films and won the National Film Award for Best Actor for Shahid (2013). He has since moved between serious dramas such as Newton and Srikanth and popular comedies, including the horror-comedy hits Stree and Stree 2.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Raj Kumar Yadav |
| Born | 31 August 1984, Gurgaon (now Gurugram), Haryana, India |
| Age | 42 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Education | Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Delhi; FTII, Pune |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Spouse | Patralekhaa (m. 2021) |
| Honours | National Film Award for Best Actor (2014) |
| Known for | Shahid, Newton, Stree, Srikanth |
Early Life
Rao grew up in a middle-class joint family in Gurugram; his father worked in the Haryana revenue department. He acted in school plays, did theatre in Delhi while at college and then studied acting at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, graduating in 2008. He moved to Mumbai and spent two years going to auditions.
Career
His first film was Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha (2010). Small parts in Gangs of Wasseypur and Talaash followed. In 2013 he had his breakthrough with Kai Po Che! and with Hansal Mehta’s Shahid, in which he played the murdered human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi. The role won him the National Film Award and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.
He worked again with Mehta on CityLights, Aligarh and Omerta, lost a great deal of weight for the survival drama Trapped (2017) and played an honest election officer in Newton (2017), India’s entry for the Oscars, alongside Pankaj Tripathi. Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Stree (2018), with Shraddha Kapoor, was his first major box-office hit.
His later films include Ludo, The White Tiger (2021), Badhaai Do (2022) and Monica, O My Darling. In 2024 he played the blind industrialist Srikanth Bolla in Srikanth, starred in Mr. & Mrs. Mahi and returned in Stree 2, one of the highest-grossing Hindi films ever.
Personal Life
Rao changed the spelling of his name and took the surname “Rao” in 2014. He married the actress Patralekhaa, his partner of many years and co-star in CityLights, in November 2021. They announced the birth of their daughter in November 2025.
Awards and Honours
Selected Filmography
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Rajkummar Rao born?
Rajkummar Rao was born on 31 August 1984 in Gurgaon (now Gurugram), Haryana, India and is 42 years old.
What is Rajkummar Rao known for?
Known for: Shahid, Newton, Stree, Srikanth.
What honours has Rajkummar Rao received?
National Film Award for Best Actor (2014).
Featured image: Rajkummar Rao at an outdoor event, 2023. Photo by Strivedi1, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
