Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh Bhavnani is a Indian actor working in Hindi films. After completing a bachelor's degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue a career in film. In 2010, he successfully auditioned for a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning Singh a Filmfare Award in the Best Male Debut category.

Ranveer Singh Bhavnani was born on 6 July 1985  in Mumbai to Jagjit Singh Bhavnani and Anju Bhavnani. He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani. His cousins are actress Sonam Kapoor and producer Rhea Kapoor, daughters of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor; Singh is their cousin from Sunita Kapoor's side née Bhavnani. Singh explains that he dropped his original surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity".

Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates. Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her. Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 Bollywood action film, Hum. He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing. However, after he joined junior college at H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing. He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University, Bloomington.
At university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor. After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and JWT. He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He decided to send his portfolio to directors. He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not.