 Akshay Kumar was born as Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, September 9th 1967. He was born to a middle class Punjabi family in Amritsar (Punjab). His father was a government worker. From a very young age, he was recognized as a performer, particularly as a dancer. Kumar was raised in Delhi's Chandni Chowk neighborhood before moving to Mumbai. In Mumbai, he lived in Koliwada, which was another Punjabi dominated area.
He studied at Don Bosco School and then Khalsa College, where he took an interest in sports. He studied martial arts in Bangkok and worked as a chef. He then came back to Mumbai, where he started teaching martial arts. One of his students happened to be a photographer and recommended him to do modeling. The student gave him a modeling assignment for a small company. For his two hours posing in front of the camera, he got Rs. 5,000, compared to his previous salary of Rs. 4,000 in one month. That was one of the main reasons why he chose to be a model.
After modeling for a few months, a friend of him suggested he should try his luck in movies. Since he had no connections with anyone in the filming industry, he started as an assistant to Jayesh Sheth. After working for him for eight months, he asked Jayesh to shoot his portfolio.
This is what Akshay says, when he remembers those days:
¨I began dropping my photos in producer´s offices. At first I could not really afford it so I used to ask for my photos to be returned. But whenever I went back, I would be told that the photos had been misplaced. So I made giant sized prints. At least no one could say they had been displaced!¨
The large prints worked in his favor, cause he got his first film after only a month.
 Akshay made his Bollywood acting debut with the 1991 film ¨Saugandh¨, which was unnoticed. His first major hit was the 1992 thriller film ¨Khiladi¨. 1993 saw a drop as many of his films failed to do well. However, 1994 proved to be a good year for Kumar as he followed up his success with ¨Khiladi¨ with the action films ¨Main Khiladi Tu Anari¨ and ¨Mohra¨, which were among the highest grossing films of the year. Later that year, Yash Chopra signed him for the romantic film ¨Yeh Dilagi¨, which was also a success. He received appreciation for his performance in this film, where he played a romantic role which was different compared to his action roles. He would consequently receive his first nominations for Best Actor award at the Filmfare and Star Screen ceremonies. All these achievements, promoted Kumar as one of the most successful actors of that year.
In 1995, along with his share of unsuccessful movies, he starred in the third film in his ¨Khiladi¨ series ¨Sabsa Bada Khiladi¨, which was a hit. He proved to have success with the ¨Khiladi¨ series, as in the next year he starred in the fourth hit film with ¨Khiladi¨ in the title, ¨Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi¨. The film became one of the highest grossing films of the year.
In 1997 he was nominated for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, for his performance in ¨Dil To Pagal Hai¨, which was a Yash Raj production. In the same year, he attempted a comedy role with the fifth film in the ¨Khiladi¨ series, ¨Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi¨. Unlike his previous films with Khiladi in the title, the film failed commercially. In the same way as this film, his next ¨Khiladi¨ releases in the following years went on to fail at the box office.
In 1999, Kumar received critical acclaim for his roles in the films ¨Sangarsh¨ and ¨Jaanwar¨. Whilst the former did not make a profit at the box office, the latter turned out to be a success.
 In 2000 he starred in the comedy ¨Hera Pheri¨ which was both a critical and commercial success, and showcased his ability at doing comedy just as he did action and romantic roles. He also starred in the romantic film ¨Dhadkan¨ later that same year which also earned reasonable takings at the box office.
He finally won his first Filmfare award as a villain (Filmfare Award Best Villain) in ¨Ajnabee¨(2001)Following his succes in comedy with ¨Hera Pheri¨, he starred in several comedy´s like, ¨Aware Paagal Deewana¨(2002) ¨Mujshe Shaadi Karoge¨(2004) and ¨Garam Masala¨(2005)
¨Garam Masala¨ turned out to be a great success for Akshay, cause he won his second Filmfare Award, this time for best Comedic Performance.
Apart from his action, comedy and romantic roles, Kumar displayed a flair for dramatic roles in films such as ¨Ek Rishtaa¨ (2001) ¨Aankhen¨ (2002) ¨Bewaafa¨ (2005) and ¨Waqt: The Race Against Time¨(2005).
2006 was again a bumpy year for Akshay, but he shot straight up the ladder in 2007 with nothing but box office hits under his belt. It all started with ¨Namstey London¨ and continued with ¨Heyy Babyy¨ and ¨Bhool Bhulaiyaa¨. His last realese of 2007 ¨Welcome¨ was also a big hit indoors and did extremely well overseas.
After finishing 2007 as Bollywood´s superstar, he continues to enjoy his fame in 2008.
His first release of the year ¨Tashan¨ was a box office disappointment but the actor wasn´t worried at all.
¨I´m not afraid to say that I played in `Tashan´. You win some, you lose some. I can still tell people that it was me in that movie. I don´t care. We´ll do better next time.¨
And he definitely did. His next release in 2008, ¨Singh is Kinng¨ broke all records before it even was released in the theatres. It is a box office hit, proving that Akshay is not only the king of the box office, but he is the emperor.
Except for his success in the film industry, Akshay also enjoys the success of TV land. In 2008 he started as an active host of the Indian version of ¨Fear Factor¨, ¨Fear Factor- Khatron Khe Khiladi¨ and he launched his own production house ¨Hari Om Productions¨, with ¨Singh is Kinng¨ as his first release.
Whether he is the highest paid actor in Bollywood or not, one thing is for sure and that is, that Akshay Kumar is the highest grossing actor Bollywood has to offer.
¨I get paid what people can pay me per film. My rate changes every movie. I only ask what I think I´m worth per film.¨
Like every celebrity in Bollywood, Akshay also has his endorsements, XBOX 360 and Thumbs Up Cola being two of his greatest endorsements.
Akshay Kumar´s private life is just as popular as his professional life (if not more popular)He has had long term relationships with Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shetty and has been linked to several of actress like, Rekha and Priyanka Chopra. After being engaged to Twinkle Khanna twice, he finally married her on January 14th 2001. They have a son named Aarav, who was born September 15th 2002.
Nejla Karatas
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