Gajraj Rao

Gajraj Rao is an Indian actor predominantly appearing in Hindi films. His father worked with the Indian Railways, so, he lived in different railway colonies with his parents, where he met people from various states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. His interactions with people during this time, has helped him to mimic different dialects.

He studied at Delhi University. While in college, he was enamoured with theatre after attending a showing of Sandhya Chhaya. He joined the theatre group Act One alongside Ashish Vidyarthi and Manoj Bajpayee.

Rao was introduced to Shekhar Kapur by his friend Tigmanshu Dhulia. He was offered the role of Ashok Chand Thakur in Kapur's award-winning movie Bandit Queen (1994). Since then, he has appeared in several films and web series.

Some of his memorable performances include playing a CBI officer in Dil Se.. (1998). He also played the role of a RAW Officer in the movie Aks (2001), directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

He went on to act in Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday (2004). He also appeared in Bhoothnath Returns (2014) alongside Amitabh Bachchan. He gained popularity as Inspector Dhaniram in the movie Talvar (2015).

Rao's performance in Badhaai Ho (2018) earned him widespread acclaim. He won the 25th Screen Awards (2018) for Best Actor (Critics) and the Extraordinary Jodi of the Year (2019), along with Neena Guptaat the Zee Cine Awards. He also won the 64th Filmfare Awards as Best Supporting Actor for the movie.

Another role, that Rao was appreciated for, was Shankar Tripathi, which he played in the movie Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020). He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Filmfare.

He has also appeared in several web series like Bang Baaja Baaraat (2015), F.A.T.H.E.R.S. (2017), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), and Ray (2021).

He directed the commercial Rorito: Write the New (2016). He has also produced documentaries like Budhia Singh: Born to Run (2016) and The Tribal Scoop (2018).