Randeep Hooda is an Indian film actor who made his Bollywood debut with Monsoon Wedding in 2001. Before appearing in commercially and critically successful movies, Randeep was seen in movies that bombed at the box office. After a series of flops, Randeep starred in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai in 2010, after which he started appearing in substantial roles and garnered critical acclaim for his performances. He is best remembered for his role in Imtiaz Ali`s Highway co-starring Alia Bhatt, and Omung Kumar`s Sarbjit co-starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Randeep has also actively been part of stage plays and theater, and is also a playwright. Apart from being a movie star, Randeep is an active sportsperson. He regularly participates in equestrian sports like polo, show jumping, and dressage. The actor also is an active blogger.

Early Life
Born on 20th of August, 1976 in Rohtak, Haryana to a Jat family, Randeep`s father Dr. Ranbir Hooda is a surgeon, and his mother Asha Hooda is a social worker. His elder sister Dr. Anjali Hooda Sangwan is a US-trained obesity, metabolic medicine and clinical nutrition specialist, while his younger brother Sandeep Hooda works as a software engineer in Singapore.

Randeep attended the Motilal Nehru School of Sports, a boarding school in Sonepat, Haryana, where he took active part in swimming, tent pegging, and show jumping, winning national level medals. He then began participating in stage shows, and also directed one of his school productions. Despite his keen interest in acting, his father wanted him to become a doctor and got his admission done in Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram in New Delhi.

After completing his schooling, Randeep traveled to Melbourne where he pursue his bachelor`s degree in marketing and master`s degree in business management and human resource management. The two years while he was pursuing his studies, he parallelly worked at a Chinese restaurant, waited tables, drove taxis, and washed cars. Upon returning to India, he took up a job in the marketing department at an airline. Despite having a job, he took up modeling assignments and also performed in amateur plays in Delhi. He took part in veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah`s imagination and improvisation workshop at the National School of Drama in New Delhi, which helped him better his acting skills. At one of his rehearsals, he received a call from director Mira Nair who offered him his first role.

Personal Life
Randeep Hooda was in a relationship with former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen for two years between 2006 and 2008. After their split, the actor confessed that his relationship with Sushmita affected his career and that he had invested too much of his time in it. He also added that the breakup was the best thing to happen to him, and that he can utilize his time in doing better things for himself. In 2010, he started dating actress Neetu Chandra. The two dated for three long years until they called it quits in 2013. Soon after his breakup with Neetu, Randeep was reportedly dating his Murder 3 co-star Aditi Rao Hydari.

Acting Career
Randeep started his acting career with Mira Nair`s 2001 movie Monsoon Wedding, for which his performance was critically acclaimed and the movie was also a commercial success. However, despite a successful debut he bagged his second role only after four years in Ram Gopal Varma`s D, which is reportedly based on the life of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, for which his performance was well-received. After D, he was then seen in a series of unsuccessful movies until he was cast in Milan Luthria`s Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai in 2010. Randeep was starred alongside Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai in the period action drama where he plays the role of ACP Agnel Wilson in an extremely crime-trodden city of Mumbai. The movie is considered to be a turning point in the actor`s career, whose performance was hugely appreciated.

Following the success of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Randeep featured in Tigmanshu Dhulia`s romantic thriller Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster. Cast along with Jimmy Shergill and Mahie Gill, Randeep plays the role of a gangster who falls in love with a married woman and works as her driver. He is said to have delivered his best performance in this movie and garnered a lot of praise for his portrayal. Randeep was then seen in Kunal Deshmukh`s 2012 crime thriller Jannat 2, which did considerably well but it was the actor`s performance that was a stand-out. He was then seen in Pooja Bhatt`s erotic thriller Jism 2, which co-starred Sunny Leone. The actor was then cast alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan in Madhur Bhandarkar`s drama Heroine, where he portrayed the character of a cricketer. Although the movie opened to mostly negative reviews, Randeep`s performance was appreciated by the critics.

The actor then appeared in the official Hindi remake of Colombian thriller The Hidden Face, Murder 3 co-starring Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren, which opened to mix reviews. He also featured in John Day and Karan Johar`s Bombay Talkies where he was cast along with Rani Mukerji and Saqib Saleem. Randeep played the character of a sophisticated man in Bombay Talkies where he tries to hide his homosexuality from people. His performance was well-received. Randeep then starred in Imtiaz Ali`s Highway in 2014 and starred opposite Alia Bhatt where he played the role of a rugged truck driver who is involved in the kidnapping of a girl. In order to get under the skin of his character, the actor did not speak to Alia for twenty-five days, and only spoke to her after the two began to have scenes together. The movie and Randeep`s performance both opened to great reviews and garnered critical acclaim. He was then seen in Sajid Nadiadwala`s Kick, co-starring Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez, which was one of 2014`s biggest blockbusters. He was then seen in Karan Johar`s 2012 release Ungli co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut, which failed to wow the audience and flopped at the box office.

He appeared in Prawaal Raman`s fictitious crime-thriller Main Aur Charles in 2015, which is inspired by true events from the life of notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj. He was then cast alongside Akshay Oberoi and Piaa Bajpai in action thriller Laal Rang in 2016, for which his performance was well-received. The actor then appeared in Omung Kumar`s biographical drama Sarbjit, where Randeep played the titular role and delivered an outstanding performance. His other project for 2016 include Deepak Tijori`s Do Lafzon Ki Kahani opposite Kajal Aggarwal, which opened to negative reviews, and Sultan co-starring Anushka Sharma and Salman Khan, where he plays the role of a wrestling coach. His other releases include Baaghi 2 (2018), Love Aaj Kal (2020) and Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai (2021). He made his Hollywood debut with the American action-thriller film Extraction (2020) starring along with Chris Hemsworth and Goldshifteh Farahani.