Suraj Sharma


Suraj Sharma is an Indian actor who made his debut with 2012 film Life of Pi. Directed by Ang Lee, Life of Pi was adapted from the novel of the same name, and earned him critical acclaim as well as a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination. In 2014, he portrayed Aayan Ibrahim in season 4 of the Showtime series Homeland. From 2018-20, he starred as Rakesh Singh in the CBS comedy-drama series God Friended Me.

Life and career

Sharma was born and brought up in a Malayali family in New Delhi, India. His father, Gokul Churai, is a software engineer from Thalassery, Kerala and his mother, Shailaja Sharma, is an economist from Palakkad, Kerala. He has a younger brother, Sriharsh Sharma, who has also acted in two films, and a younger sister, Dhruvatara Sharma. He attended Sardar Patel Vidyalaya secondary school, and later studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. With no prior acting experiences, he auditioned along with his brother for the role of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel in Life of Pi. Sharma went through several rounds of auditions before winning the title role, beating out 3,000 other young men including Rajiv Surendra and Naren Weiss. Director Ang Lee has stated that he selected Sharma primarily based on his expressive eyes and innocent appearance. According to him, Sharma had not only the emotion, but also the "look" of Pi. His "medium complexion" and "average build" were deemed perfect for the role. The film was met with critical acclaim, winning four Academy Awards; Sharma's performance received positive reviews, and he was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
After filming Life of Pi, Sharma returned to studying philosophy at St. Stephen's College, with the intention of continuing to work in filmmaking in some capacity. He subsequently undertook a mass communication course at New York University. In 2014, he portrayed Aayan Ibrahim, nephew of a terrorist, in season 4 of the Showtime political thriller series Homeland. That same year, he portrayed Rinku Singh in the sports biopic Million Dollar Arm. He then co-starred with Tony Revolori in the Indian comedy-drama Umrika, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. In 2016, he starred in the Mongolian-American adventure drama film Burn Your Maps. He has also portrayed the role of Kanan Gill in his first Bollywood venture, Anshai Lal's romance comedy Phillauri co-starring Anushka Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh. From 2018-20, he starred as Rakesh Singh in the CBS comedy-drama series God Friended Me.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations