Pankaj Tripathi is an Indian actor. He is famous for his originality and creativity in his performance. He worked in more than 40 films and 60 television shows. Tripathi’s breakthrough came in 2012 for his antagonistic role in the Gangs of Wasseypur film series.
| Full name | Pankaj Tripathi |
| Date of birth | September 5, 1976 |
| Age | 42 years |
| Birthplace | Belsand in Gopalganj, Bihar |
| Hometown | Gopalganj, Bihar |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Caste | Not yet known |
| School | D. P. H School, Gopalganj, Bihar |
| College | National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi, India |
| Educational qualification | Graduation in Drama from National School of Drama in 2004 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Year active | 2004 – present |
| Marital status | Married |
| Spouse | Mridula Tripathi (m. 2004) |
| Children | 1 (daughter) |
| Debut | Film:- Run (2004) TV:- Gulal (2010) |
| Notable work | Gangs of Wasseypur |
Early life:
Pankaj Tripathi was born into a Hindu family in Belsand, a village in the Gopalganj district in the Indian state of Bihar, as the youngest of their four children to Pandit Banaras Tripathi and Hemwanti Devi. His father works as a farmer and priest. Tripathi also worked as a farmer until he was in the 11th grade of the school. During the festive season, he played the role of a girl in the Natak of his village, which was appreciated by the villagers and eventually led him to make a career out of acting.
Tripathi moved to Patna after high school where he studied at the Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur. He did theater and was active in university politics as a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Fearing failure of the acting, he also worked briefly for a five-star hotel in Patna. After spending around seven years in Patna, he moved to Delhi to enroll at the National School of Drama, which he graduated from in 2004.
Personal life:
Pankaj was born in a Hindu family, his father, Pandit Banaras Tiwari is a farmer and priest and mother, Hemwanti is a housewife, he has 3 older brothers and 2 older sisters.
He married Mridula on January 15, 2004 and they have a girl child.
Career:
After graduating from the National School of Drama, Tripathi moved to Mumbai in 2004 and subsequently played an uncredited role in Run. While filming for Gulal, Pankaj received a call for an audition for “Gangs of Wasseypur” from Anurag Kashyap. The audition lasted about 8 hours and he was offered a role of “Sultan”. His performance in the film was well praised by audiences and led him to receive more offers from several filmmakers, and his works in Fukrey, Manjhi: The Mountain Man and Masaan were also highly praised by critics and audiences alike.
In his early career, he mostly played negative roles and became synonymous with gangster characters. He later played a variety of roles and won a critical evaluation for it. His first film as a leading actor was the film Gurgaon 2017. His 2017 film, Newton, was India’s official entry for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film category.
Pankaj Tripathi made his Tamil film debut with the film Kaala, released on June 7, 2018. He also appeared in the 2018 web series Mirzapur and Mirzapur in the second season available on Amazon Prime, and in the 2019 web series Sacred Games available on Netflix. Recently one of his film Ludo was released on OTT platform and it received extreme appreciation from the critics and audiences.
Facts:
- Pankaj Tripathi wasn’t aware of movies till the 10th standard because he didn’t have a TV and the nearest theater was about 20km from his village.
- Pankaj’s father wanted him to become a Doctor.
- He was also good at sports and represented his college in high jump and 100m sprint.
- Tripathi was honoured with a National Film Award- Special Mention for his film, Newton.