Irrfan Khan

Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spanned over 30 years and earned him numerous accolades, including a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, and six Filmfare Awards. In 2011, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. In 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.

Khan made his film debut with a small role in ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988), which was followed by years of struggle. He acted in a few Film and Television Institute of India student films such as ''Reconnaissance'' (1990), directed by Sandeep Chattopadhyay. His first Hindi movie was ''Ek Doctor Ki Maut'' (1990), in which he portrayed a journalist and shared a major role opposite lead players Pankaj Kapur and Shabana Azmi. After this movie he acted in the British film ''The Warrior'' (2001). He had his breakthrough as a leading actor in the Hindi movies ''Haasil'' (2003) and ''Maqbool'' (2004). He went on to gain critical acclaim for his roles in ''The Namesake'' (2006) for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, ''Life in a... Metro'' (2007), and ''Paan Singh Tomar'' (2011). For portraying the title character in the last of these, he won the National Film Award for Best Actor. Further success came for his starring roles in ''The Lunchbox'' (2013), ''Piku'' (2015), and ''Talvar'' (2015) and he had supporting roles in the Hollywood films ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012), ''Life of Pi'' (2012), ''Jurassic World'' (2015), and ''Inferno'' (2016). His other notable roles were in ''Slumdog Millionaire'' (2008), ''New York'' (2009), ''Haider'' (2014), and ''Gunday'' (2014), and the television series ''In Treatment'' (2010). His highest-grossing Hindi film release came with the comedy-drama ''Hindi Medium'' (2017), and his final film appearance was in its sequel ''Angrezi Medium'' (2020), both of which won him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in 2018 and 2021.

As of 2017, his films had grossed () round 0}} billion|link=yes}}) at the worldwide box office. Khan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer in March 2018, and died from the disease on 29 April 2020. Khan was described by Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' as "a distinguished and charismatic star in Hindi and English-language movies whose hardworking career was an enormously valuable bridge between South Asian and Hollywood cinema". He was honoured in the 'In memoriam' segment of the 93rd Academy Awards. Provided by Wikipedia