Dulquer Salmaan, Indian actor
Dulquer Salmaan (born 28 July 1986) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam language films. He has also appeared in a few Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language films. Salmaan graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management from Purdue University and worked as a business manager in Dubai before pursuing a career in acting. He is a recipient of four Filmfare Awards South and one Kerala State Film Award.
After a three-month acting course at the Barry John Acting Studio, he made his debut in the 2012 action drama Second Show, for which he received the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He received his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance in Ustad Hotel (2012).
After the commercial success of the comedy ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi (2013) and the road thriller Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi (2013), Salmaan appeared in the Tamil romantic comedy Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (2014). He then starred in the ensemble romantic drama Bangalore Days (2014), which ranks among the highest-grossing Malayalam films. He achieved further success in Tamil cinema with Mani Ratnam's critically and commercially successful romance O Kadhal Kanmani (2015). Subsequently, Salmaan garnered acclaim for portraying the title role in the 2015 romantic drama Charlie, winning him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor. He debuted in Telugu cinema with the biopic Mahanati (2018) and in the Hindi films Karwaan (2018) and The Zoya Factor (2019) marking his Bollywood debut.
Salmaan has been recognised in the media as a fashion icon and an auto enthusiast. He owns several entrepreneurship ventures and promotes various social causes.