Vivek Oberoi is a popular actor from India, working as a Bollywood actor most of the time.
These actors are pretty popular in Asia but sadly aren’t so up to date in American moviemaking industries and therefore rarely move there.
He came to limelight after starting in a gangster movie called „Company” which was filmed in 2002.
This appearance gained him two film awards as confirmation of his qualities as an actor. He said that it was the best experience of his life, and the most rewarding one as well.
Early years
He was born as Vivek Anand Oberoi on September 3, 1976, in the capital of Telangana, which is one of the states of India. He said that growing up in India, he faced much prejudices once he was in the movie industry! It was very hard to move on and go over these things, but he had to.
The city is named Hyderabad and it is amongst India’s most populated cities. This also made his childhood a bit heavier.
Vivek has a sister named Meghna Oberoi. They are very well connected, like most Indian families.
His father is a member of Punjabis, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group.
His name is Suresh Oberoi and he is a very known person in India. This helped him out a bit when he was only starting his journey, but he soon moved on and became independent when it comes to his father.
Suresh was a very popular character actor during ’80s and ’90s and he transferred his love for films onto his young son Vivek.
His mother, whom he respects enormously, is named Yashodhara and she comes from the capital of Tamil Nadu called Chennai.
Vivek was a good son to his parents and never gave them any trouble while growing up.
He was also a good pupil and went to the Hyderabad Public School which is privately funded (although the name says otherwise). Like many students from India, he first thought that becoming a science major is the right way to go, but he soon realized that he won’t be able to pursue his biggest passions that way, so he quit.
After finishing this school he entered a boarding school made just for boys: Mayo College. It is located in Ajmer. He also went to Mithibai College.
He was a good athlete in college and was involved in several sports like table-tennis, cricket, and hockey, where he even played in the national team.
He came to New York during his schooling to participate in various acting workshops. There he was recognized as a talent by a very important figure: the director of NY University who engaged himself about Vivek.
He took Vivek to his college where Obera gained his master’s degree. The degree was in film acting and his teachers confirmed that he was one of the best in the semester. He was one of those people that always work and he wanted to know everything there was to teach.
Career development
His first appearance in a movie called „Company” which was directed by Ram Gospel Varma and where he had one of the leading roles.
This movie was a part of the gangster trilogy. He gained two awards for this role, both Filmfare Awards. He said that it was a very interesting experience and that he loved meeting all of these actors and learning from them.
He received it in the categories of Best Debut Role and Best Supporting Actor.
This success leads him to new roles, this time in a thriller named „Road” made by Ram Gopal Varma, and in an action movie named „Dum”.
In 2002 he gained a role in Shaad Ali’s movie called „Saathiya” which was a huge cinema hit which was filmed with a budget of $3million and earned $12 million.
He was again recognized as one of the best actors so he received another compliment by being nominated for Filmfare Awards in the category of Best Actor.
In 2004 he had two bigger roles, in a comedy titled „Masti” and in a political drama called „Yuva”. His parents were concerned for him after he did “Yuva” because in India there are lots of troubles when it comes to politics.
In 2005 he gained a role of Kisna in a musical film called „Kisna: The Warrior Poet”.
In 2006 he was honored with a role in a crime drama movie called „Omkara” which was based on „Othello”, a famous play written by William Shakespeare.
In 2007 he again received a role in a crime movie which was based on a true story of Lokhandwala Complex Shootout which happened in 1991.
The movie was therefore titled „Shootout at Lokhandwala” and it spoke the story of a gun battle which happened when gangsters came into conflict with the police.
In 2008 he starred in an action movie called „Mission Istanbul”, alongside Shriya Saran and Zayed Khan. Next year he had received a supporting role in an action movie titled „Kurbaan”.
In 2011, Oberoi has produced a movie titled „Watch Indian Circus” which was included on the list of Busan Film Festival the same year.
The movie was very well received and has won the Audience Choice Award in the category of Best Movies.
This was a huge deal not only because it was chosen amongst 3000 other movies, but because Busan Film Festival was a huge international film festival and this was the first time that an Indian movie received an award.
The film became so huge that it was written about it in Hollywood Reporter and Variety Magazine.
In the spring of 2014, he gave his voice to the character named „Electro” in a Hindi version of a huge world hit called „The Amazing Spider-Man 2″.
His second big success was in a movie directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran called „Lucifer”. It was this director’s debut action movie and Oberoi was praised for his great performance in it.
Due to his celebrity status, he had been featured on a popular Indian reality show based on talent-search where he was one of three judges.
Oberoi is also a businessman and owns a real estate company called „Karrm Infrastructure Ltd.”. He always loved to work many jobs at once and he also has many hobbies. All of these make him a perfect candidate for an entrepreneur.
He founded it in 2011 and its headquarters is in Mumbai. The company launches low-income projects with „Mission 360″ being as their first and biggest project for building half a million homes.
He donated a part of the flats in the project to the families of police officers who died in action.
In 2017 he gained a role of Vikrant Dhowan in a web TV series which airs on Amazan Video Channel. The theme of the series is cricket, the most popular sport in India.
As for his awards he had won a lot of them, from stardust Awards to Bollywood Movie Awards.
In 2007 he has also won the AXN Action Award for the Best Action Actor in a Negative Role for the movie „Shootout at Lokhandwala”.
Personal life
Oberoi discovered that his full name is Vivekanand and that it was a name of the monk whom his dad and grandad followed, and that he dropped the Anand from Vivekananda in respect of the monk’s name.
In 2004, he starred with Aishwarya Rai in a romantic movie called „Kyun! Ho Gaya Na…” and the two of them have started a romantic relationship at that time.
Oberoi spoke publically about the threats he received from Aishwarya’s former boyfriends and soon after the pair finished their romantic affair.
His most serious relationship was the one with Priyanka Alva, a social worker who works in Artistes Foundation and is a daughter of Jeeveraj Alva, a deceased Indian politician, and a former government minister.
The pair are married today and have two children together, a son and a daughter. They are very close and they spend a lot of time together.
Oberoi is very committed to a healthy life and his diet and he is a vegetarian. He stated that another Indian actress called Kareena Kapoor is his inspiration for the vegetarian diet.
Since he likes vegetarian food he had learned to cook a lot of veggie meals and today is a very skilled cook
He doesn’t drink alcohol nor he smokes.
As for controversies in his life, a huge one happened in 2003 when he was still dating Aishwarya Rai.
He has called a press conference to reveal that Rai’s former boyfriends SalmanKhan called him over 4o times during the night and threatened his life then.
His last film released in May 2019 titled „PM Narendra Modi” was first banned for release by the Election Commission but came out one month later.
If this wasn’t enough he brought a new controversy on him by posting a meme about Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan, comparing the two of them with elections.
He was called out for that tweet because the viewers found it derogatory towards women.
He was severely backlashed so he finally stated an apology which didn’t sound sincere.
He also deleted the controversial tweet.
Many people think that he has sabotaged his won career and the return to Bollywood film industry.
In 2006 he gained the „Red and White Bravery Award” for his contribution for helping villagers to rebuild their Tsunami-destroyed village.
Vivek’s family also founded YOF, which is short for „The Yashodhara Oberoi Foundation”, with Yashodhara being the name of his mother.
Vivek is also the anti-tobacco spokesperson for WHO. Vivek helps a lot of local charities, both in Mumbai and Chennai.
He had been given the Good Samaritan Award by Rotary International organization for his help to the victims of the 2004 tsunami.
He was also involved in a lot of philanthropic work with Cancer Patients aAid Association and to Banyan organization.
Vivek judged the Miss Sri Lanka contest in 2012.
Vivek Oberoi is very handsome and almost every year he finds himself on the list of the sexiest men, which includes the list of the sexiest Vegetarians made by PETA.
Quick summary
Full name: Vivekanand Oberoi
Date of birth: September 3, 1976
Birthplace: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Age: 43
Profession: actor, producer, businessman, real estate agency owner
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Net Worth: $3 million