Sidharth Malhotra (born 16 January 1985) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. Malhotra began a career as a model at the age of 18. Dissatisfied by the profession, he went on to work as an assistant director to Karan Johar in the 2010 film My Name Is Khan. He made his acting debut with a leading role in Johar's teen drama Student of the Year (2012), for which he received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut nomination. Malhotra played an aspiring businessman in the comedy-drama Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), a hardened criminal in the romantic thriller Ek Villain (2014), and an aspiring author in the family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016). The latter two rank among Malhotra's highest-grossing films. He followed this initial success by starring in a series of films that did not perform well at the box office.