Known for playing cop roles, Murli Sharma is an Indian film actor who has given memorable performances predominantly in Bollywood and Tollywood films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam movies. His claim to fame was the lead role of Col. R.S. Sajwan in the Doordarshan serial Paltan. His most acclaimed performances were seen in films like Main Hoon Na (2004), Golmaal 3 (2010), Badlapur (2015), ABCD 2 (2015), Athidi (2007) and Yevadu (2013), to name a few.

Early life
Murli Sharma was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. After completing his graduation, he joined the Roshan Taneja Acting School in Mumbai to learn acting. He has two brothers.

Personal life
Murli got married to actress Ashwini Kalsekar in 2009. Ashwini is popular for her portrayal of Jigyasa Walia in the soap opera Kasamh Se, and Maham Anga in the series Jodha Akbar.

Movie career
Murli entered the film industry in 1982 as a child artist with the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan action-drama Shakti, in a supporting role. He was next seen in a special appearance in the 2002 film Raaz in the role of an inspector. He followed this up with another cameo in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar in the same year, and then went on to star in films like Maqbool (2003), and Dhoop (2003). However, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Main Hoon Na in 2004, was what got him huge popularity. Even though he played a supporting role of Captain Khan, he managed to stand apart in the film. In the same year, he was seen as a eunuch in the adult comedy film Masti. He also made an impact with his performance in the film Black Friday as Inspector Virendra Vani.

The actor then acquired a minor role in the Aamir Khan-Rani Mukherji starrer Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), followed by films like Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera (2006) and Buddha Mar Gaya (2007). He raised a notch higher with his roles in the comedy films Dhamaal as Inspector Kulkarni, and in Dhol as a notorious gang leader Zikomo, both in 2007. Even though Murli played a supporting role of Inspector Ajay Sastry/Kaiser in the Telugu action thriller film Athidhi (2007), he gained huge praises from audiences for his performance. Not only this, he won the Nandi Award for the Best Villain in 2007 for Athidhi.

Murli made a special appearance in the 2008 Imran Khan-Genelia D`Souza starrer Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, and featured in the comedy film Golmaal Returns. His next significant role came in his role as ACP A.S. Malik in Dabangg (2010). He then played the role of Inspector Dhande in the action-comedy Golmaal 3 starring Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor and Shreyas Talpade. His comedy moments with Vijay Patkar in the film were highly appreciated. In the same year, he played a police officer in Farah Khan`s comedy Tees Maar Khan.

In 2011, he featured in the role of DSP Patkar, protagonist Singham`s (Ajay Devgn) senior, in the movie Singham, directed by Rohit Shetty. He followed this up with several films in the year like Chatur Singh Two Star, Hello JaiHind, and Oosaravelli, before playing the role of Laxman Mishra in OMG: Oh My God! (2012). His other major release in 2012 includes the Telugu action drama Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum as Reddyappa/Chakravarthy starring Rana Daggubati and Nayantara in the lead roles. The movie received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success.

Murli Sharma The actor then featured in a Malayalam film for the first time with Karma Yodha (2012) opposite the legendary actor Mohanlal. The year was quite successful for the actor as he starred in films of different languages including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and Marathi. In 2014, after the Marathi comedy film Poshter Boyz, Murli acted in the Tamil movie Anjaan that starred Suriya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead roles. The latter opened to mixed reviews and was a success at the box office. In 2015, he appeared in the Varun Dhawan starrer Badlapur, in which he played the role of Michael Dada. He followed this up by portraying the role of an owner of a bar Shetty Anna in ABCD 2.

Murli had many movies in 2016 too, one of which was Babu Bangaram, in which he played the role of a commissioner. He was also part of the main cast in the trilingual horror-comedy Devi that starred Tamannaah Bhatia and Prabhu Deva in the lead. The years 2017 and 2018 saw Murli establish himself as one of the most sought-after character actors in Telugu cinema, where he appeared in high-profile movies like Duvvada Jagannadham (2017), Ninnu Kori (2017), Bhaagamathie (2018) and Devadas (2018). In addition to these, the actor also appeared in the Bollywood comedy Golmaal Again (2017).

Significant among Murli`s recent film credits are the biographical drama NTR (2019), the Prabhas starrer Saaho (2019), NGK (2019), Khamoshi (2019), Ninnu Veedani Needanu Nene (2019), Evaru (2019) and Tenali Ramakrishna BA BL (2019). His 2021 releases include Jathi Ratnalu, Chaavu Kaburu Challaga and A1 Express, a sports drama movie directed by Dennis Jeevan Kanukolanu..