Abhay Deol belongs to the legendary Deol clan of Bollywood. Born on March 15, 1976, he turned 46 this year. Despite being Dharmendra's nephew and Sunny Deol's cousin, Abhay Deol's has gone off the beaten track as far as choosing films is concerned Pictures courtesy/Abhay Deol's Instagram and mid-day archives.

Abhay Deol is the son of Dharmendra's younger brother Ajit Singh Deol. His mother's name is Usha Deol. Abhay's father Ajit was also an actor, who played small roles in films of the 1970s.

Abhay Deol doesn't credit his father for his aspiration to enter acting. He revealed he was interested in the medium since participating in theatrical plays during school. Although Abhay Deol may have not achieved box-office success he is counted among Bollywood's most talented actors

Abhay Deol is known to portray difficult roles with ease. The actor made his Bollywood debut with Imtiaz Ali's Socha Na Tha, but he first attained success in his Bollywood career with Anurag Kashyap's 2009 film Dev D. Abhay Deol portrayed a modern and darker version of Devdas in Dev D and underwent tremendous physical changes to suit the role.

Abhay Deol proved that he was born to be an actor, from his first film itself. He won praise from critics in 2008 for Dibakar Banerjee's Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, but the films failed to do well at the box-office since it released a day after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Abhay Deol teamed up with Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akthar in Zoya Akhtar's 2011 directorial Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which was successful at the box-office. He reunited on-screen with Dev D co-star Kalki Koechlin in the film.

Later, Abhay Deol was seen opposite Sonam Kapoor in the 2013 film Raanjhanaa. Dhanush played the lead in the romantic drama.

Abhay Deol ventured into film production in 2014 with One By Two. His then-girlfriend Preeti Desai essayed the female lead opposite him. Abhay Deol's debut production One By Two was a dud due to lack of promotions owing to disputes with the music company promoting it.

But a few years later, Abhay Deol and Preeti Desai called off their relationship and parted ways. Abhay dated Shilo Shiv Suleman, and the duo made their relationship Instagram official in 2021.

After a series on movies, Abhay Deol was also seen in the 2016 film Happy Bhag Jaayegi. Directed by Mudassir Aziz, Abhay starred alongside Diana Penty, Ali Fazal and Jimmy Shergill.

Abhay Deol was also seen in a Mahesh Manjrekar-director series, 1962: The War in the Hills. He was also seen doing a special role in Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma's Zero, in which Abhay played the character of Katrina Kaif's boyfriend. However, the film didn't do well at the box office.

Apart from this one, Abhay Deol made his Tamil debut with The Hero, where the actor was seen playing the role of an antagonist. The film is scheduled to release on December 20, 2019. Directed by PS Mithran, Hero also stars southern film industry actor Sivakarthikeyan Doss.

"On the set of a movie called 'The Hero' where I play 'the villain!' Was a natural progression I guess, I've played the anti-hero through most of my career. Oh and this one's in Tamil ??! New language, new territory. Grateful," shared the actor speaking about his role in the film.

We wish you all the very best for your upcoming projects, Abhay! Make us laugh with your wit and antique on social media. Happy birthday!