Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1965), also known as Manoj Bajpai is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. He was born in a pious Hindu Brahmin family on 23 April 1969 in a small village called Belwa near the city Bettiah in West Champaran, Bihar. He studied in a “hut school” till fourth standard, and later did his schooling at Khrist Raja High School, Bettiah. He completed his 12th class from Maharani Janaki Kunwar College in Bettiah.

Manoj Bajpayee moved to New Delhi at the age of seventeen and went to Satyawati, then to Ramjas College, Delhi University. He had heard about the National School of Drama from actors such as Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah, so he applied. He then attended director and acting coach Barry John’s workshop after actor Raghubir Yadav’s suggestion. Impressed by Bajpayee’s acting, John hired him to assist him in his teaching. After that he applied at the National School of Drama for the fourth time, and they offered him a teaching position at the school instead.

Manoj Bajpayee made his feature film debut with a one-minute role in Drohkaal (1994) and a minor role as a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen (1994). After a few unnoticed roles, he played the gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1998 crime drama Satya, which proved to be a breakthrough. Bajpayee received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film. He then acted in films such as Kaun? (1999) and Shool (1999). For the latter, he won his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.

Manoj Bajpayee won the Special Jury National Award for Pinjar (2003). This was followed by a series of brief, unnoticed roles in films that failed to propel his career forward. He then played a greedy politician in the political thriller Raajneeti (2010), which was highly appreciated. In 2012, Bajpayee played the critically acclaimed lead character Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur. His next roles were as a Naxalite in Chakravyuh (2012), and a CBI officer in Special 26 (2013).

In 2016, he portrayed Professor Ramchandra Siras, in Hansal Mehta’s biographical drama Aligarh, for which he won his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor and the Best Actor Award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2016. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 67th National Film Awards for his performance in the film Bhonsle. He also won Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor, for The Family Man (2021).

Manoj Bajpayee is widely regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema or Bollywood, he is the recipient of three National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards, and two Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In 2019, he was awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, for his contributions to art.