Born on July 8, 1994 in a Telugu speaking family in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, Adarsh Gourav began his education in Loyola School. When his father, who worked in the Central Bank of India, was transferred to Mumbai, he continued his studies in Lilavatibai Podar High School. A trained Hindustani classical musician, Adarsh was performing in Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in 2007, a talent manager spotted him and asked him if he wanted to become an actor. He gave auditions for an year and landed his first role in Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan. In the 2010 drama, he played the young version of Shah Rukh Khan.
Adarsh then went back to his studies and completed graduation from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce. Simultaneously, he enrolled himself into the Drama School Mumbai and learnt the detailing and techniques of the art. In his last year of college, he got the opportunity to work with Anurag Kashyap's short film Clean Shaven with Radhika Apte in the 2016 anthology film Madly. In 2017, Adarsh was seen in the leading role in Rukh with Manoj Bajpayee and also played one of the antagonists in Sridevi's last film Mom.
But, Adarsh found himself without any work for several months after being rejected in multiple auditions. Talking about the same to Money Control, he said, "I called people to ask if they have any work for me -- character dubbing, advertisements, even helping writer friends with their scripts. I just wanted to be busy and working. Those five months in 2019 were testing, but I am glad I hung on." His patience eventually paid off and he landed himself a leading role in The White Tiger.
Also starring Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav earned global recognition for his brilliant performance as the chauffeur Balram Halwai. He even earned nominations for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, and AACTA International Award for Best Actor. The 2021 Ramin Bahrani directorial, based on Aravind Adiga's 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel, was even nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, or the Oscars.
The White Tiger helped Adarsh bagged a leading role in one of the episodes of the Apple TV anthology miniseries Extrapolations, that also featured big Hollywood names including Meryl Streep, Kit Harington, Edward Norton, and Marion Cotillard among others. Furthering his career in Hollywood, Gourav will be seen in the science fiction horror television series Alien: Earth, which serves as a prequel to the 1979 cult classic film of the same name.
In 2023, Adarsh impressed the audiences in the black comedy crime drama series Guns & Gulaabs and the coming-of-age buddy drama film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, both of which are streaming on Netflix. The actor will be seen next in Reema Kagti's Superboys of Malegaon, which is set to premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2024, and will have a theatrical release in India in January 2025.
READ | Meet actor, who refused Karan Johar film, was 'blacklisted' from industry; then debuted in Rs 200-crore hit, is now...
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