Adil Hussain

Adil Hussain was born Khandkar Mohammad Adil Hussain on 5 October 1963 in Goalpara, Assam, India, into an Assamese Muslim family where his father served as a high‑school headmaster. He was the youngest of seven children and boasts a richly mixed heritage—his maternal grandfather was Iraqi while his maternal grandmother combined Assamese, English and Italian roots. After completing his early schooling, Hussain left home at eighteen to study philosophy at B. Borooah College in Guwahati, where he also discovered a passion for performance, joining a local stand‑up comedy troupe and acting in college plays. His comedic talent earned him six years on stage, and he later honed his craft at the National School of Drama (1990‑1993) before receiving a Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship to train at the Drama Studio London. Returning to India in 1994, he spent three years with the mobile Hengul Theater in Assam, subsequently moving to Delhi to deepen his theatrical experience under mentors such as Khalid Tyabji, Swapan Bose, and Dilip Shankar. He also served as artistic director of the Society for Artists and Performers in Hampi (2004‑2007) and taught at the Royal Conservatory of Performing Arts in The Hague and his alma mater, the National School of Drama. Adil Hussain broke into film with critically acclaimed stage productions like Othello: A Play in Black and White (1999) and quickly transitioned to cinema, debuting in Bengali cinema with Iti Srikanta (2004). He gained nationwide recognition in Bollywood with Ishqiya (2010) and reached international audiences through roles in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (both 2012). His versatile portfolio spans English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Norwegian and French films, and he has earned a National Film Award (Special Jury) for Hotel Salvation and Maj Rati Keteki. Notable recent works include Parched (2016), Force 2 (2016), 2.0 (2018) and a historic appearance hoisting the Indian flag in the Metaverse in 2022. Throughout his career, Hussain has been celebrated for his chameleon‑like ability to inhabit diverse characters while maintaining a distinct, nuanced presence on screen.