He worked as an assistant
for photographer Jayesh
Sheth for 18 months
without payment to shoot
his first portfolio.
Akshay Kumar was born in Amritsar, Pun-
jab, 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 Mumbai when his father left
Army to become an accountant with UNI-
CEF.
Kumar is one of the most prolific actors of
Indian cinema, having starred in 110 films,
of which many were commercially suc-
cessful. He was the first Bollywood actor
whose films' domestic net lifetime collec-
tions crossed Rs 20 billion by 2013 and
Rs 30 billion by 2016. Having done so,
he has established himself as one of the
prominent actors of Hindi cinema. When
he began his acting career in the 1990s,
he primarily starred in action films. Later,
Kumar also gained fame for his drama,
romantic and comic roles.
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 2009,
he founded the Hari Om Entertainment
production company and Grazing Goat
Pictures production company in 2012.
In 2014, Kumar launched the TV real-
ity show Dare 2 Dance. He also owns
the team Khalsa Warriors in the World
Kabaddi League. As of 2019, according
to Forbes, Akshay was the fourth highest-
paid actor in the world and the highest
paid in India.
In 2008, the University of Windsor con-
ferred an honorary Doctorate on Kumar
in recognition of his contribution to Indian
cinema. In 2009, he was awarded the
Padma Shri by the Government of India.
In 2011, The Asian Awards honoured
Kumar for his outstanding achievement in
cinema.
His close friend recommended Kumar into
modelling which ultimately led to a model-
ling 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 modelling 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.
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, Aarav and a
daughter Nitara. The actor is quite con-
sistent and scored back to back hits. His
recent offering Good Newwz is a massive
hit and is raking massive revenues all
over.
JANUARY- 2020 | WWW.CINESPRINT.COM
99