Ashish Vidyarthi

When Ashish Vidyarthi first began his career in the acting industry, he was known for playing one of the most lovable villains in Bollywood. At present, he is finally able to fulfil his lifelong ambition of being a YouTuber, public speaker, and explorer. Vidyarthi is a well-known figure in the media today because he has been in over 300 movies made in 11 different languages.

Vidyarthi was a student at Mehta Vidyalaya, part of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He attended Hindu College in Delhi and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in history there. Vidyarthi made his debut in the movie industry with the Kannada film Anand (1986), in which he had a supporting part.

Until 1990, he was a National Academy of Theatre student. Vidyarthi was then seen starring in the Kannada movie Hijack (1991). A few years later, in the movie Sardar (1993), based on the life of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Vidyarthi portrayed V. P. Menon. The movie was directed by Ketan Mehta and starred Paresh Rawal, Tom Alter and Annu Kapoor.

Vidyarthi debuted in the Hindi film industry in Droh Kaal (1994). The movie earned him a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor the following year. He also appeared in Naajayaz (1995) with Ajay Devgn, Naseeruddin Shah and Juhi Chawla.

Vidyarthi went on to star in classic films such as 1942: A Love Story (1994), Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), Mrityudaata (1997), Soldier (1998), Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999), Vaastav: The Reality (1999) and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), Refugee (2000), LOC: Kargil (2003), Barfi! (2012), and Begum Jaan (2017), to name a few.

On the international front, Vidhyarthi was a part of the film Nightfall (2000), which was shot in Hollywood. Gwyneth Gibby is the director of this film adaptation of Isaac Asimov's short tale of the same name.

With movies like Ezhumalai (2002), Pokiri (2006), Kuruvi (2008), Adhurs (2010), and Awara (2012), Vidyarthi left a mark in many regional films. In addition to appearing in films, he starred in the audio series Kahanibaaz (2018).

Vidyarthi lent his voice to the role of Scar in the Hindi version of The Lion King (2019).

He was also a part of iSmart Shankar (2019) in the role of a CBI officer, Ramamoorthy. Puri Jagannadh directed this science-fiction Telugu movie. Later the same year, Vidyarthi acted in Oru Adaar Love (2019), a Malayalam love story starring Priya Prakash Varrier and Mohammed Roshan.

The year after, Ashish Vidyarthi acted in the film Uriyattu (2020), which K. Bhuvanachandran directed.

Vidyarthi has received various accolades and awards, like the Star Screen Award for Best Villain and the Best Actor Award from the Bengali Journalists' Association for his movie Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996). He also was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Villain - Telugu for his movie Athanokkade (2005) and received the Best Character Actor award for his work in the Telugu film Minugurulu (2012).

Vidyarthi has honed his acting abilities not just by performing on the big screen but also by appearing in other online series. To mention a few, Trial by Fire (2018), Mission Over Mars (2019), Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (2020), Raktanchal (2020), Sunflower (2021), and Rudra: The Edge of Darkness (2022).

Vidyarthi was last seen in the Telugu film Writer Padmabhushan (2023), which saw him play the role of Madhusudhan Rao.

Vidyarthi is well-known not just for the parts he has played on screen but also for his work as a motivational speaker. He has improved the lives of young professionals at over 200 organisations worldwide through his ignite lectures and customised transformational workshops.