Arif Zakaria is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in the Hindi film industry. He made his acting debut in Kalpana Lajmi`s Darmiyaan: In Between (1997). His role was initially offered to Shahrukh Khan. But as Shahrukh Khan backed out at the last moment, Arif stepped in to play the part of a transvestite originally meant for the Bollywood star. Since then he has acted in movies like Earth (1998), Sangharsh (1999), Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003), Dance Like a Man (2004), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005), My Name Is Khan (2010) and Lootera (2013). He`s also a part of director Suman Ganguli`s Blue Mountains (2017). The movie also stars Ranvir Shorey, Gracy Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Arif Zakaria, Simran Sharma, Yatharth Ratnum and Mahesh Thakur. His other releases include Nanak Shah Fakir (2019), Raazi (2019) and Gul Makai (2020).