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Akshay Kumar (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia on September 9, 1967) is an Indian film actor, producer and martial artist who has appeared in over a hundred Hindi films. He has been nominated for Filmfare Awards several times, winning it two times. He has appeared in over 125 films. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films and was particularly known for his appearances in feature films commonly called the "Khiladi series", which included Khiladi (1992), Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi (1997), International Khiladi (1999), Khiladi 420 (2000) and Khiladi 786 (2012), as well as other action films such as Waqt Hamara Hai (1993), Mohra (1994), Elaan (1994), Suhaag (1994), Sapoot (1996), Angaaray (1998), Keemat – They Are Back (1998) and Sangharsh (1999).
Later he also gained fame for his drama, romance and comic roles. He started becoming known for his performances in romance films like Yeh Dillagi (1994), Dhadkan (2000) and Namastey London (2007), as well as drama films such as Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005) and Patiala House (2011). His comic performances in comedy films such as Hera Pheri (2000), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Garam Masala (2005), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), and Singh Is Kinng (2008) met with acclaim. His success had soared in 2007, when he starred in four consecutive commercial hits. Kumar hit a rough patch since 2009 to 2011 but came back with two successes, Housefull 2 (2012) and Rowdy Rathore (2012) with both of them grossing over INR100 crore (US$17 million). His other films like OMG (2012) and Special 26 (2013) were highly successful critically and commercially. On February 16, 2013, many media outlets reported that the boxoffice collection of Kumar films has crossed INR2,000 crore (US$340 million) and till date is the only Bollywood actor to do so. Having done so, he has established himself as a leading contemporary actor of Hindi cinema.
Apart from acting, Kumar has worked as a stunt actor; he has often performed many dangerous stunts in his films, which has earned him a reputation as the "Indian Jackie Chan". 2008 marked his television debut as the host of the show Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi. In 2009, Kumar founded the Hari Om Entertainment production company.
In 2008, the University of Windsor conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Law on Kumar in recognition of his contribution to Indian cinema. The following year he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. In 2011 The Asian Awards honoured Kumar for his outstanding achievement in Cinema.
Akshay Kumar was born in Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. His father was an army officer. His mother's name is Aruna Bhatia. From a very young age, he was recognised as a performer, particularly as a dancer. Kumar was raised in Delhi's Chandni Chowk neighbourhood before moving to Mumbai. In Mumbai, he lived in Koliwada, which was another Punjabi dominated area. He studied at Don Bosco School in Mumbai and then Guru Nanak Khalsa College in Mumbai. Akshay has one sister also,Alka Bhatia.
After having obtained a black belt in Taekwondo while in India, he studied martial arts in Bangkok, Thailand, where he learned Muay Thai and worked as a chef and waiter. 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 modelling. The student gave him a modelling assignment for a small company. For his two hours posing in front of the camera, Kumar got INR5,000, compared to his previous monthly salary of INR4,000. That was one of the main reasons why he chose to be a model. One morning he missed his flight for an ad-shoot at Bangalore. Disappointed with himself, he went for his usual rounds at various film studios with his portfolio. Luckily that same 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 January 17, 2001. Their son named Aarav was born in September 2002. Khanna gave birth to their second child, daughter Nitara, on September 25, 2012.
Akshay stays in shape with a combination of kickboxing, basketball, swimming, and other sports, as well as working out.
In 2004, he was honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Award for his outstanding achievements in Bollywood. In 2008 the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada awarded Kumar with Honorary Doctrate of Law for his outstanding work in the film industry and contribution to social work.
The same year he was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People (India) magazine. The following year Kumar was awarded the highest Japanese honour of "Katana" and a sixth degree black belt in Kuyukai Gōjū-ryū karate. He was one of the 15 international celebrities invited for the Olympics torch-bearer rally to Canada. He became responsible to endorse the Canadian Tourism by sharing the duty of Brand Ambassador till the summer of 2012.
