Vicky Kaushal was born and raised in Mumbai, but his family hails from Hoshiarpur, Punjab. His father, Sham Kaushal, is a well-known action director, and his younger brother, Sunny Kaushal, made his Bollywood debut in 2016.
Growing up, Kaushal was interested in playing cricket, studying, and watching films. His father wanted him to pursue a stable career away from the silver screen, which led him to study engineering at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology in Mumbai. He graduated as an Electronics and Telecommunications engineer in 2009.
After earning his engineering degree, Kaushal appeared for a corporate job interview and was offered a role. However, he tore up the offer letter and decided to try acting instead. He joined Kishore Namit's acting academy to prepare himself for a film industry career.
Kaushal began his acting career in 2011 with the theatrical production Laal Pencil. Around the same time, he started assisting Anurag Kashyap on the sets of Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). He got to play minor roles in films like Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012),directed by Sameer Sharma, and Bombay Velvet (2015),directed by Anurag Kashyap.
Kaushal debuted on the big screen as a lead with Masaan (2015),an independent drama film directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. The film was selected for screening at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won two awards- the Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard category and the FIPRESCI, which is an International Jury of Film Critics prize.
In 2016, Kaushal won several awards for his debut movie, including the Best Debut Actor at the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA),Screen Awards, and Zee Cine Awards. He was also nominated for the 10th Asian Film Award for Best Newcomer in 2016.
His second big screen release was Mozez Singh's Zubaan (2015),a musical drama that was filmed before Masaan (2015). Kaushal plays the role of a young man with a speech impairment. He consulted a speech therapist to prepare for this role. Zubaan (2015) was screened at the 20th Busan International Film Festival held in 2015 as the opening film.
In 2016, he appeared as an unbalanced and troubled character in Anurag Kashyap's neo-noir psychological thriller Psycho Raman (2016). To prepare for this role, he went into isolation for five days. The film premiered under the Directors' Fortnight section at the 69th Cannes Film Festival held in 2016, receiving positive reviews. It received a good response from critics at home as well.
Kaushal continued to prove his mettle as a versatile actor with movies like Raazi (2018),Sanju (2018),and Husband Material (2018). In Raazi (2018),Meghna Gulzar's spy action thriller, he plays a Pakistani army officer. The film went on to gross more than Rs. 200 crores. Sanju, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, proved to be another big hit in his career.
His performance as Kamli in Sanju (2018) earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2019. He also won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2018 and Zee Cine Awards 2019. This blockbuster earned over Rs. 586 crores worldwide.
In 2019, Kaushal appeared as a military officer in the action film Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019). To prepare for this movie, filmed in Siberia, Kaushal underwent military training for five months to gain muscle weight. The film grossed more than Rs. 340 crores at the box office. Kaushal received the Best Actor Award at the National Film Awards in 2019, jointly with Ayushmann Khurrana for Andhadhun (2018).
His next film was Bhoot: Part One - The Haunted Ship (2020),directed by Bhanu Pratap Singh.
In Shoojit Sircar's biographical historical drama film Sardar Udham (2021),Kaushal played the role of Indian freedom fighter Udham Singh. The critics appreciated his performance in the film, and he won the Filmfare Critics Award 2022 for Best Actor and IIFA Award 2022 for Best Actor.
He followed this up with a comedy thriller, Govinda Naam Mera (2022). He was also seen in the romantic musical drama Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat (2022) by Anurag Kashyap.
Kaushal is married to actor Katrina Kaif.
