Abhay Deol (Abhay Singh Deol, born 15 March 1976) is an Indian actor and producer, who works predominantly in Hindi language films. Born in the Deol family of the Hindi cinema, he began acting at a young age in theater productions at his school. Deol made his on-screen movie debut in 2005 with Imtiaz Ali's romantic comedy Socha Na Tha. After the modest success of his debut, Deol was praised for his performances in films such as Manorama Six Feet Under (2007), which won him the Best Actor Award at the Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, and the hit successful Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008). His breakthrough role came in 2009 with the starring role as Dev in Anurag Kashyap's Dev.D, a modern-day adaptation of the Bengali classic novel Devdas. Following the success of the film, Deol gained wider recognition. Deol primarily appeared in independent films early in his career, but that changed in 2011 when he starred in Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, a road film that went to become one of the highest-grossing films in Bollywood. His performance was well-received and earned him his first nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. Deol has appeared in commercially successful films including the drama film Raanjhanaa (2013), and the romantic comedy Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016), while simultaneously working in independent films including the drama Road, Movie (2010) and the war movie  Chakravyuh (2012). Deol is noted for his portrayal of complex characters on screen, and is vociferous in his support for parallel cinema in India. He has often been labeled as a nonconformist or an unconventional actor by Indian media. Deol is the owner of a production company, Forbidden Films which was established in 2009. In addition to his acting career, he is also an active philanthropist and supports various NGOs.

Deol was born into a Sikh family to Ajit Singh Deol and Usha Deol. He is the nephew of Film Actor Dharmendra, and the cousin of Esha Deol, Ahana Deol, Bobby Deol, and Sunny Deol. Abhay Deol stated in an interview with Rediff that he is into acting not because of his father, but because he was involved in theatre since school. "At the age of eighteen, I marked to make the move. It took me almost 10 years because I was didn't want to leave my education to get into films.

Abhay Deol Controversies:
Affairs: Abhay Deol never involved in affairs controversy. He only dated British actress Preeti Desai.
Abhay Deol vs Fairness cream: Abhay Deol mocks Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh, Vidya, Deepika and Sonam for doing fairness cream ads. He added social media posts and shared pictures of all actors doing fairness cream ads and criticized them. He also criticized other actors and brand for promoting racism! [Source]
Aisha (2010) movie controversy: Abhay Deol is not happy that he was a part of Aisha, also starring Sonam Kapoor. He feels the movie had more to do with clothes than acting. [Source]
T Series Vs Abhay Deol: Abhay Deol did protest kind of thing against music label T-Series for not releasing his film ‘One By Two’s’ music. [Source]
Supporting Pakistani Actors: Abhay Deol was seen against the ban of Pakistani Actor in Bollywood. After his comment on this, he got some hate on social media! [Source]

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