Dev Patel

Dev Patel is an English actor, filmmaker and director known for Slumdog Millionaire, Lion, The Green Knight and Monkey Man. Patel was born in London, where he attended Whitmore High School in Harrow and trained in taekwondo, competing in tournaments for several years. His mother encouraged him to audition for Skins after spotting an advertisement, which led to his first professional acting role.

Patel played Anwar Kharral on the British teen drama Skins from 2007 to 2008 before landing the lead role of Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The film became his breakthrough and earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He later appeared in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), The Newsroom and The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015).

He went on to appear in the coming-of-age drama Lion (2016), for which he won a BAFTA and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also earned credits in films including Hotel Mumbai (2018), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) and The Green Knight (2021). In 2024, Patel made his directorial debut with Monkey Man, which he also cowrote and starred in.

Patel dated his Slumdog Millionaire costar Freida Pinto from 2008 to 2014. He began dating Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey after they met while filming Hotel Mumbai in 2016, with their relationship becoming public the following year.