Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an Indian film actor who works in Hindi cinema. He was born on 19 May 1974 in a small town called Budhana in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui went to the National School of Drama, New Delhi. After graduating from NSD, he moved to Mumbai. He started working as a chemist in a petrochemical company, but quit soon after because he dreamt of becoming an actor. Shortly afterwards he moved to Delhi, where he took up a job as a watchman. He also joined a theatre there, and started watching plays.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui made his Bollywood debut in the year 1999 with a small role in the Aamir Khan starrer Sarfarosh. He then appeared in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1999 film Shool and the 2000 film Jungle, as well as Rajkumar Hirani’s Munnabhai MBBS (2003).

Nawazuddin Siddiqui faced a lot of struggle and hardships in his initial days in Mumbai that tested his patience and passion for acting. He played his part in short films, television and small roles in some Bollywood movies. He was always on the lookout for the right opportunity to portray his acting skills. He got his first major breakthrough in 2007 with his film Black Friday written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. This was followed by a series of films like New York, Peepli Live, Kahaani, DevD, Paan Singh Tomarand Firaaq where he played small yet substantial roles.

In 2015, Siddiqui’s films Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Manjhi – The Mountain Man released and he was praised for his roles. Siddiqui appeared in a film based in Gujarat, titled Haraamkhor. For his performance in Haramkhor, he was awarded the Best Actor at the New York Indian Film Festival.

Celebrated author Paulo Coelho has recommended Sacred Games to his Twitter followers and lauded Nawazuddin’s work, calling it “One of the best series on Netflix with the great actor Nawazuddin”.