Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an acclaimed Indian actor who gained prominence in the Indian film industry with huge critical acclamations and a number of awards for his movies. His breakthrough role was with Anurag Kashyap's ‘Black Friday’ (2007) which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was a nominee for the Best Film (Golden Leopard) award at the Locarno Film Festival.

Early Life of Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Nawazuddin Siddiqui was born to a Muslim family in a small town of Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, on 19th May 1974. His father is a farmer and he has nine siblings including two sisters and seven brothers. He completed his graduation in science from Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar. Afterwards, for some time, he worked in a petrochemical company as a chemist. However, he soon moved to Delhi where he began working as a watchman at an office. Meanwhile he also developed a keen interest in watching plays. Later in the year 1996, Nawazuddin graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD) New Delhi.

Career of Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Nawazuddin Siddiqui moved to Mumbai after graduating from National School of Drama for pursuing a career in the world of acting. His initial phase of acting career included much struggle and the year 2004 can be marked as the worst period when he was unable to pay even the rent. He requested and shared the apartment of a National School of Drama senior on condition of cooking meals for his senior. He got his first break in Bollywood in the year 1999 when he played a small role in the movie "Sarfarosh". In the next few movies, he got only stereotypical and minor roles and could not make his presence felt in the film industry. His struggles continued for the next few years when he was in severe financial crunch. He played the role of a waiter in the movie ‘Shool’, a pickpocket in the movie Salaakhen and a cutpurse in ‘Munna Bhai M.B.B.S’. During the years of his struggle he also tried to get work in television serials but in vain. In 2003 he appeared in a short film The ‘Bypass’ along with Irrfan Khan. Between the years 2002-05 Nawazuddin did not have any work and earned his living through conducting occasional acting workshops.

Film career of Nawazuddin Siddiqui gained pace with Anurag Kashyap's movie ‘Black Friday’ in 2004. The movie also gave him recognition as a powerful actor having immense potential. His next movie was Prashant Bhargava's ‘Patang’ where he was featured in a lead role. The movie was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival and the actor earned praises by world renowned film critic Roger Ebert for his spectacular performance. The movie also proved to be milestone in his career as it transformed his acting style greatly. He was starred in a cameo role in the year 2009 in the movie ‘Dev D’. His next movie was the movie ‘New York’. In 2010, Aamir Khan Productions's movie ‘Peepli Live’ gave further prominence to the actor which was followed by Tigmanshu Dhulia's ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ in the same year. His next ventures included ‘Kahaani’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Miss Lovely’ and the sequel of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ which augmented his fame further. He also appeared in a horror movie ‘Aatma’, Aamir Khan's 2012 release ‘Talash’, ‘Bombay Talkies’ and ‘Shorts’. In 2015, Siddiqui's films ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and ‘Manjhi - The Mountain Man’ were released, and he was praised for his roles. Siddiqui appeared in a film based in Gujarat, titled ‘Haraamkhor’. Filmography of Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Following are the films done by Nawazuddin Siddiqui:

Movie	Year
Sarfarosh	1999
Black Friday	2004
Firaaq	2009
New York	2009
Dev D	2009
Peepli Live	2010
Paan Singh Tomar	2012
Kahaani	2012
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1	2012
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2	2012
Chittagong	2012
Talaash	2012
Dekh Indian Circus	2012
Patang	2012
Miss Lovely	2012
Aatma	2013
Bombay Talkies	2013
Shorts	2013
Liar's Dice	2013
Monsoon Shootout	2013
The Lunchbox	2013
Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa	2013
Kick	2014
Badlapur	2015
Bajrangi Bhaijaan	2015
Manjhi - The Mountain Man	2015
Raman Raghav 2.0	2016
Te3n	2016
Lion	2016
Freaky Ali	2016
Haraamkhor	2017
Raees	2017
In Defence of Freedom	2017
Jagga Jasoos	2017
Mom	2017
Munna Michael	2017
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz	2017
Carbon	2017

He also appeared in two television serials Sacred Games in 2017 and McMafia in 2018.

Achievements of Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Nawazuddin Siddiqui achieved a number of awards for his remarkable performances in the year 2012. He received National Film Awards, Zee Cine Awards and Star Screen Awards for his movie ‘Talaash’. For the movie ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ he won Stardust Awards and Lions Gold Awards. He was also awarded as the Best Actor in New York Indian Film Festival for his performance in ‘Dekh Indian Circus’. For his work in the year 2012, he also won the award for Breakthrough Talent in GQ Men of the Year Awards. In 2013, he won the awards of Filmfare Award and Renault Star Guild Award for the ‘The Lunchbox’. In 2015, he won the Zee Cine Awards and again Filmfare Awards for ‘Badlapur’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. He also received Indira Gandhi Memorial Award.

Personal Life of Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Presently Nawazuddin Siddiqui lives in Mumbai along with his younger brother Shamaas Nawab Siddiqui who works as a director. He is married to Anjali and they have a daughter, Shora and a son. Siddiqui's memoir An Ordinary Life was published on 25th October 2017.