Actors: Aamir Khan

Date of Birth: 14 March 1965, Mumbai, India

Nickname: A.K. / AK

Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Spouses: Kiran Rao (December 2005 – present)

Reena Dutta (18 April 1986 – December 2002). Two children: Junaid and Ira

Aamir Khan is brother to Faisal Khan, Farhat Khan and Nikhat Khan

He is the nephew of Nasir Hussain who was a very successful director of Hindi films in the seventies.

Aamir Khan is a cousin of Mansoor Khan, the director of hit films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Jo Jeeta Vahi Sikander, Akele Hum Akele Tum & Josh (with Shahrukh Khan)

Aamir’s second wife, Kiran Rao, was an assistant director to Ashutosh Govarikar on the film, Lagaan

Aamir Khan was awarded Padma Bhushan for the year 2003 by the Government of India.

Rumoured to have fathered a child with his ex-girlfriend, English writer Jessica Hines, who delivered their son, Jaan Harry Hines, on September 14 2003.

Aamir Khan launched his nephew, Imran Khan, with a highly successful film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, directed by Abbas Tyrewala.

Aamir’s mother is Zeenat Hussain. Sometimes she is referred to as Zeena Hussain.

Aamir Khan was offered the role of Rahul Mehra in Darr (1993), which then went to Shahrukh Khan propelling him to superstardom.

Aamir Khan has refused to attend any award functions in India because of an altercation he had with Khalid Mohammed who was then editor of Filmfare. Apparently he was trying to convince Aamir Khan to perform in the function in lieu of an award which irked him and he boycotted all awards from then on.

The directors he has worked with say that Aamir Khan spoils them because of which they find it very difficult to work with anyone else in Bollywood. The reason is because Aamir Khan gets so involved in the script and shooting of the film which the directors can never find in any other Bollywood star.

Aamir is said to be a big fan of Alfred Hitchkock movies.

Aamir visited Pakistan for a fund raising event for the ‘Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital’. He had been invited by the cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan.

Aamir performed a very popular on-screen pair with Juhi Chawla. Later he preferred working with a different heroine in all his films. He has hardly been seen with the same heroine in his films.

Aamir Khan shares his birthday, 14th March, with Michael Caine, Mercedes McNab, Kylie Tyndall, Keaton Tyndall, Quincy Jones, Chris Klein, & Jamie Bell.

Aamir Khan is the highest paid actor right now in Bollywood. All of Aamir Khan’s films in the last ten years have been successful hits.

Aamir’s ancestors hail from Afghanistan.

Aamir is the only celebrity who turned down Madame Tussaud's offer to immortalize him in a wax statue. His reason was that he was busy with one of his films when they had made the offer. Or was it that he did not want to be part of the crowd where Shahrukh and Salman were already present? Maybe that is one reason why he refused to be part of the Om Shanti Om song too which had the whole film industry in it except Aamir Khan- which is what sets him apart in the crowd.

Aamir Khan’s favourite actors are Daniel Day-Lewis and Dilip Kumar.

Aamir is a huge fan of tennis and cricket. He admires Roger Federer a lot and is good friends with Sachin Tendulkar.

In the movie Baazi, Aamir Khan had waxed his body to get into a woman’s getup for a song. He spent almost five hours every morning for eight consecutive days to do the make-up.

Aamir Khan has not directed the entire film Taare Zameen Par. Ad film-maker Ram Madhvani (who directed Boman Irani Hinglish starrer Let's Talk) has directed an entire song Bheja Kum in the film! That's not all, Aamir was not even present on the sets when the song was shot. The song was shot in a school in Panchgani.

Legendary actor Guru Dutt's younger sister and Kalpana Lajmi's mother, 75-year-old Lalitha Lajmi made her acting debut with Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. Lalitha, who is a noted painter and teacher, essays a cameo role where she plays herself. She shot for it in November 2006 at Panchgani. Lalita will be seen as a chief guest who hands out a prize to the protagonist Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) in the film.

Aamir Khan took special permission from Amitabh Bachchan to use Abhishek's example in his film, Taare Zameen Par. The reference is made in terms of Abhishek being one of the most successful stars and how he has created Dhoom, overcoming the reading difficulties that he had during childhood (dyslexia).

The name Nikumbh given to Aamir's character was the name of Amol Gupte's (creative director) art teacher and Hansraj Morarji Public School Principal, Late Shri R. S. Nikumbh.

Noted artist Samir Mondal made three paintings for Aamir Khan for his film Taare Zameen Par, and did not charge anything for them. His works normally sell in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 7 lakh depending on the size of the painting.

Aamir began his career as a child-actor in the film Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), when he was eight years old. He acted and wrote the screenplay for the film, Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke (1993). He has also done playback singing for himself in the successful film Ghulam (1998).

Aamir is known for his efforts to create believable characters, rather than just playing himself in film after film. He will go to great lengths to give a convincing portrayal -- including, it is said, drinking heavily in order to play a drunken scene in Raja Hindustani (1996), even though he doesn't drink in real life. His memorable characters include:

o Amar, the inept schemer (Andaz Apna Apna)

o Aakash, the college Lothario (Dil Chahta Hai)

o Munna, the street tough (Rangeela)

o Bhuvan, the village idealist (Lagaan)

o ACP Rathod, a crusading police officer, (Sarfarosh)

o Raghu Jaitly, an affable news reporter (Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin)

Aamir is also known for working on only one film at a time, unusual in the Bollywood film industry, because he wants to give his best to each film. Detractors say that his penchant for perfection sometimes leads to clashes with directors who don't listen to his objections or let him re-shoot a scene he thinks sub-par.

Aamir's reputed perfectionism seems to have paid off for Aamir's first foray into film-production, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. This film was a big box-office success in India and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2001.

Aamir went directly into films from college and made his first big hit playing ... a college boy.

Publicists tried to position him as a teen idol, every college girl's dream. In order to do so, they buried all evidence of his 1988 marriage to Reena Datta, who (though not a professional actress and already married to him at that time) made a brief appearance in a song sequence in his first hit film, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. It was big news when the marriage was first revealed.

Ghajini - Though there was the internationally renowned stunt director Peter Heines to direct the action sequences, Aamir and director A.R. Murugadoss thought it was also better to seek the expertise of a NSG commando. So, an ex-Black Cat commando (whose name has not been revealed) was roped in to guide Aamir in hand-to-hand combat. Aamir has a lot of fight scenes in the second half of the film.

South film industry has a very different way of working from Bollywood. Since the majority of the crew of ‘Ghajini’ was from South, they followed a ritual that’s quite common downsouth. On the day they shot the scene of the villain’s death in the film, they held a small celebration to mark the victory of good over evil. A cake was ordered and everyone including the actor who played the villain got to have a bite

While shooting a song on Aamir and Asin in Namibia, the film’s crew had unexpected visitors in the wild animals that roamed around the Dead Pan area in the African country. Once a group of wild foxes turned up and kept staring curiously at the entire crew. The shooting was held up as long as the foxes stayed. On another occasion, the shooting was stalled when a herd of wildebeests (dark antelopes with long heads) passed nearby the shooting location and kicked up a lot of dust in the air.

Time magazine refers to him as the Indian 'Sean Penn'.

Best friends with Juhi Chawla & Rani Mukherjee

Aamir Khan - Awards and nominations

Academy Award – 2002

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2001.

Awards of the International Indian Film Academy

2002: Popular Award, Actor in a Leading Role win for the role of Bhuvan in Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and Popular Award, Actor in a Leading Role nomination for the role of Akash Malhotra in Dil Chahta Hai

Filmfare awards

1989: Best Newcomer win

1992: Best Actor nomination for the role of Raghu Jaitley in Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin

1995: Best Actor nomination for the role of Amar in Andaz Apna Apna

1996: Best Actor nomination for the role of Rohit Kumar in Akele Hum Akele Tum

1997: Best Actor win for the role of Raja Hindustani in Raja Hindustani

2000: Best Actor nomination for the role of ACP Ajay Singh Rathod in Sarfarosh

2002: Best Actor win for the role of Bhuvan in Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and Best Actor nomination for the role of Akash Malhotra in Dil Chahta Hai

National Film Awards, India

2002: "Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment" win for Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India shared with Ashutosh Gowariker

Screen Weekly Awards

1997: Best Actor win for the role of Raja Hindustani in Raja Hindustani

2002: Best Actor nomination for the role of Bhuvan in Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and Best Actor nomination for the role of Akash Malhotra in Dil Chahta Hai

Zee Cine Awards

2000: Popular Award, Bes Actor win for the role of ACP Ajay Singh Rathod in Sarfarosh

2002: Popular Award, Best Actor win for the role of Bhuvan in Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India and Popular Award, Best Actor nomination for the role of Akash Malhotra in Dil Chahta Hai