Ashish Vidyarthi

Indian actor (born 1965)

3 min read

Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1965) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Marathi, and Odia films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Drohkaal. He has also received several awards including a Filmfare Award South along with nominations for two Filmfare Awards.

Early life

Ashish Vidyarthi was born on 19 June 1965 in Delhi, India to a Malayali father from Thalassery (Kerala), and a Bengali mother from Rajasthan with ancestry in West Bengal. His mother Reba Vidyarthi (Née: Chattopadhyay) was a Kathak guru, while his father Govind Vidyarthi is an expert in cataloguing and archiving vanishing Performing Arts of India for the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He attended National School of Drama until 1990 and associated himself with another theatre group, Act One, run by N. K. Sharma.

Career

In 1992, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai). Ashish played the role of V. P. Menon in his first film, Sardar, based on Sardar Vallabhai Patel's Life. Though, his first release was Drohkaal, for which he won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1995. He is also renowned for his role as Ashutosh, in 1942:A Love Story. Ashish received the Star Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role, for the 1996 film Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin. In the same year, for the same role, he was also nominated for Filmfare Best Villain Award.

Vidhyarthi has worked in 11 languages in over 300 films. He is the co-founder and curator of AVID MINER Conversations, which are interactive modules customized for organizations.

Currently, he has a YouTube channel with over one million subscribers and he often vlogs about food.

Personal life

Vidyarthi married Piloo Vidyarthi aka Rajoshi in 2001. They have a son Arth. The couple filed for mutual divorce in 2022. He married Rupali Barua in 2023.

Filmography

During his career, Vidyarthi has acted in over 300 films in 11 different languages.

Awards

Won

1995: National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor: Drohkaal
1996: Bengal Film Journalists' Association - Best Actor Award (Hindi): Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin
1997: Star Screen Award for Best Villain: Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin
2005: Filmfare Award for Best Villain – Telugu: Athanokkade
2012: Nandi Award for Best Character Actor: Minugurulu

Nominated

1996: Filmfare Best Villain Award for Drohkaal
1997: Filmfare Best Villain Award: Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin
1998: Zee Cine Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Negative Role for Ziddi
2012: SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu): Ala Modalaindi
2014: SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Kannada): Shivajinagara
2015: Star Screen Awards for Best Ensemble Cast: Haider
2016: Indian Television Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Negative Role : 24