An Indian stage, television and film actor from the state of Assam, Adil Hussain is popular for being one of the finest actors in Bollywood. He has expanded his work to acting in International films like The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Life of Pi, both in 2012. His popular Bollywood movies include English Vinglish, Ishqiya, and Agent Vinod. He has also acted in Assamese, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, and French films.

Early life
Adil Hussain was born and brought up in Goalpara, Assam. His father was a teacher and he is the youngest of seven children. While studying, he was a part of a lot of school plays. At the age of 18, he left home to study philosophy at B. Borooah College, Guwahati, where he acted in college plays and performed as a stand-up comedian. He got quite popular for mimicking famous Bollywood actors in between performances of a local stand-up comedian group, the Bhaya Mama Group. He studied at the National School of Drama (1990-1993), but before that he worked as a stand-up comedian for around six years, joined a mobile theatre, and also worked in some local cinema. He extended his education further by studying at the Drama Studio London on a Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship.

Personal life
Adil Hussain is married to Kristen Jain.

Theatre career
In 1994, Adil joined the mobile Hengul Theater in Assam where he worked for three years. He then moved to Delhi to start his stage career and trained under Khalid Tyabji, Shaupon Boshu at Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry, and then continued training under Dilip Shankar in Delhi. Othello: A Play in Black and White (1999) was what got the actor popularity and appreciation. The play was awarded the Edinburgh Fringe First, followed by Goodbye Desdemona both directed by Roysten Abel. Between 2004 and 2007, Adil was the artistic director and trainer with the Society for Artists and Performers in Hampi, and a visiting faculty at Royal Conservatory of Performing Arts, Hague. The actor is also a visiting faculty at his alma mater - National School of Drama.

Movie career
Adil Hussain made his film debut in the year 2004 with the Bengali period drama Iti Srikanta, in a lead role along with Soha Ali Khan. After this, he appeared in a few Assamese films, and was seen in small roles in Vishal Bhardwaj`s Kaminey, and Sona Jain`s For Real. His breakthrough came with Abhishek Chaubey`s Ishqiya (2010), which got him the much-deserved attention in Bollywood. He played the role of Vidya Balan`s husband Vidyadhar Verma/Shyam Prasad Kulshreshtha, a local gang-lord.

He was then seen in the Bengali film Gangor before his first major role in the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer Agent Vinod in 2012. He had four other releases in the year including - Mira Nair`s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, comedy drama English Vinglish, Lessons in Forgetting, and Ang Lee`s Life of Pi. His different roles in these four movies - as a Muslim Activist and Mujahidin in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the protagonist Sridevi`s husband in English Vinglish, renowned cyclone expert J.A. Krishnamoorthy in Lessons in Forgetting, and as the protagonist Pi`s father in Life of Pi, proved his versatility as an actor. His role as Sridevi`s husband in English Vinglish got him critical acclaim for a crisp performance. Adil`s role in Lessons in Forgetting earned him critical praises at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest.

His next role as Inspector K.N. Singh was in the Ranveer Singh-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Lootera under Vikramaditya Motwane`s direction. This followed with Amit Vats` comedy Boyss Toh Boyss Hain, the story of four young guys with similar problems in life, who eventually find their way to true love.

Adil opened 2014 with the Assamese film Raag: The Rhythm of Love playing the role of Iqbal, which marked his first Assamese film in a lead role. Sringkhal and Rodor Sithi were his other Assamese releases in the year. He was also seen in Hindi films like Kaanchi: The Unbreakable as a CBI officer, The Xpose as Rajan starring Himesh Reshammiya in the lead, and Tigers as Bilal starring Emraan Hashmi. Tigers, based on a real-life story about a salesman, was screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. His first lead role in a Hindi film came with the drama Zed Plus as Aslam Puncturewala co-starring Mona Singh, Mukesh Tiwari, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Sanjay Mishra, Shivani Tanksale and Ekavali Khanna.

Adil had maximum film appearances in 2015 as he had releases in English, Hindi, Bengali, and first Tamil and Marathi movies. His Hindi movies include Main Aur Charles as Amod Kant, Jai Ho Democracy as Major Baruah, and Angry Indian Goddesses as a police superintendent. He debuted in Tamil cinema with Yatchan portraying a significant role of Selvam/Vetri but the film received mixed reviews from the critics and was a flop at the box office. He also worked in his first Marathi movie Sunrise as Joshi. His Bengali film in the year was Arindam Sil`s mystery thriller Har Har Byomkesh as zamindar Deepnarayan Singh.

His 2016 projects include the drama film Parched directed by Leena Yadav, which premiered at the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie starred Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla, Adil Hussain and Lehar Khan in pivotal roles. It is about four women who lead a tightly controlled-by-traditions life in a village of Rajasthan. His other project in the year is the action thriller Force 2 directed by Abhinay Deo featuring John Abraham and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. His Assamese film in 2016 is Kothanodi. Adil Hussain`s 2017 releases include Commando 2: The Black Money Trail, Love Sonia, Mantra, Mukti Bhawan, Dobaara: See Your Evil, Kabuliwala, and Naval Enna Jewel. His 2020 release includes Abyakto and Pareeksha.

Television Career
Adil`s prominence in the television industry came with his lead role in the detective television series Jasoos Vijay (2002-2003).