A long road traveled; from a waiter in Bangkok, to one of the most successful actors in Bollywood, Akshay Kumar has come a long way.
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia was born in Old Delhi. His father worked for UNICEF. From a very young age, he was recognised as a performer, particularly as a dancer. Kumar was raised in Delhi's Chandni Chowk neighbourhood before moving to Mumbai. In Mumbai, he lived in Koliwada, which was another Punjabi dominated area. He studied at Don Bosco School and then Khalsa College, where he took an interest in sports.
He studied martial arts in Bangkok and worked as a chef. He then came back to Mumbai, where he started teaching martial arts. One of his students happened to be a photographer and recommended him to do modelling. The student gave him a modelling assignment for a small company. For his two hours posing in front of the camera, he got Rs. 5,000, compared to his previous salary of Rs. 4,000 in one month. That was one of the main reasons why he chose to be a model. After a couple of months of modelling, Kumar was finally offered a lead role by producer Pramod Chakravarthy for the movie Deedar.
As an instructor in martial artist, Rajiv Bhatia always dreamt of making it big in that field but when a student suggested that with his good looks and a good built, he should take up modelling, the anonymous Rajiv Bhatia began his journey as Akshay Kumar who then slowly but surely worked his way up to becoming one of the most talented stars of the industry.
Stunned at the pay package and his success as a model, Akshay took the next obvious step, and entered into films. However unlike most of the other stars in his time, Akshay neither had star parents, nor a godfather to launch him.
Kumar made his Bollywood acting debut with the 1991 film Saugandh, which was unnoticed. His first major hit was the 1992 thriller film Khiladi. 1993 saw a drop as many of his films failed to do well. However, 1994 proved to be a good year for Kumar as he followed up his hit success with Khiladi with the action films Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Mohra which were among the highest grossing films of the year. Later that year, Yash Chopra signed him for the romantic film Yeh Dillagi which was also a success. He received appreciation for his performance in this film, where he played a romantic role which was different compared to his action roles. He would consequently receive his first nominations for Best Actor award at the Filmfare and Star Screen ceremonies. During the same year, Kumar also had success with films like Suhaag and the low budget action film Elaan. All these achievements, promoted Kumar as one of the most successful actors of that year.
In 1995, along with his share of unsuccessful movies, he starred in the third film in his Khiladi series Sabse Bada Khiladi, which was a hit. He proved to have success with the Khiladi series, as in the next year he starred in the fourth hit film with Khiladi in the title, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi opposite Rekha and Raveena Tandon. The film became one of the highest grossing films of the year.
In 1997, he made an extended guest appearance in Yash Chopra's hit film Dil To Pagal Hai, for which he received a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award nomination. In the same year, he attempted a comedy role with the fifth film in the Khiladi series, Mr and Mrs Khiladi. Unlike his previous films with Khiladi in the title, the film failed commercially. In the same way as this film, his next Khiladi releases in the following years went on to fail at the box office. In 1999, Kumar received critical acclaim for his roles in the films Sangharsh and Jaanwar. Whilst the former did not make a profit at the box office, the latter turned out to be a success.
In 2000 he starred in the comedy Hera Pheri (2000) which was both a critical and commercial success, and showcased his ability at doing comedy just as he did action and romantic roles. He also starred in the romantic film Dhadkan later that same year which also earned reasonable takings at the box office. In 2001, Kumar played a negative role in the film Ajnabee. The film won him much acclaim as well as his first Filmfare Award for Best Villain. Kumar also had critical appreciation for his role as a blind man in Aankhen which was a box office success of that year.
Following the success of Hera Pheri, Kumar starred in a number of comedy films, including Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and Garam Masala (2005). The films succeeded at the box office, and his performance in the latter earned him his second Filmfare Award, for Best Comedian.
Apart from his action, comedy and romantic roles, Kumar displayed a flair for dramatic roles in films such as Ek Rishtaa (2001), Aankhen (2002), Bewafaa (2005) and Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005).
In 2006 he starred in a sequel to Hera Pheri titled Phir Hera Pheri. As was the former, the sequel became a huge success at the box office. Later that year he starred alongside Salman Khan in the romantic musical Jaan-E-Mann. The film was a well anticipated release, and despite receiving positive reviews from critics, did not do as well as expected at the box office. Though the film under-performed, his role as a shy, lovable nerd was praised. He ended the year with the comedy Bhagam Bhag, which was a success. In that same year, he led the Heat 2006 world tour along with fellow stars Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen and Celina Jaitley.
2007 proved to be Kumar's most successful year during his career in the industry, and as described by box office analysts, "probably the best ever recorded by an actor, with four outright hits and no flops." His first release, Namastey London, was critically and commercially successful, and his performance earned him a Best Actor nomination at the Filmfare. Critic Taran Adarsh wrote of his performance in the film, "he's sure to win the hearts of millions of moviegoers with a terrific portrayal in this film." His next two releases, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa, both received super hit verdicts at the box office as well. Kumar's last release of the year, Welcome, did extremely well at the box office, receiving a blockbuster status and simultaneously becoming his fifth successive hit. All of Kumar's films which released that year did well in the overseas market as well.
Kumar's first film of 2008, Tashan, marked his comeback to the Yash Raj Films banner after 11 years. Although much anticipated by the public, the film was a critical and commercial failure. His second film, Singh Is Kinng, has been declared a super-hit after breaking first weeks worldwide record of Om Shanti Om which was the previous highest figure.
Today he is one of the most sought after actors who commands a strong box-office opening.
During his years in Bollywood, Kumar was romantically linked with several of his co-star actresses like Pooja Batra, Raveena Tandon, Rekha and Shilpa Shetty. After being engaged twice to actress Twinkle Khanna, the daughter of veteran actors Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, he finally married her on January 14, 2001. Their son named Aarav was born on September 15, 2002.
In 2007, a leading Mumbai tabloid newspaper printed a story saying that Kumar and his wife had fallen out and Kumar had moved out of his home, staying at a hotel instead. On July 26, 2007 the couple sent a legal notice to the tabloid, declaring that the rumour was false. Kumar said:“ The article is a clear representation of careless and irresponsible journalism. The freedom of press comes with responsibilities, which seems to have been put aside to give way to shock value journalism.
ACCORDING TO AKSHAY KUMAR HE IS CRAZY ABOUT THE FOLLOWING THINGS IN HIS LIFE:
My Wife: Tina (Twinkle Khanna) is a perfect homemaker. She is an independent woman and she is making a lot of money in her interior decoration business. I am fascinated by the way she conducts her business. She has a positive approach to life, and that works well for me. We are completely opposites, I guess we got together because opposites attract. Tina is outgoing, I'm not. She speaks her mind, I don't.
My Sister: Alka is the most beautiful woman I have seen. I admire the way she runs her spa, Aroma Garden. She makes people look beautiful – as beautiful as her...
My Son: Aarav calls me Deda, I too called my dad the same. Recently I bought him a piggy-bank, which has become his favourite possession. He is learning to save in this piggy-bank from this age, which is a good habit. Whenever I am shooting in Mumbai, I take a lunch break, during which I pick Aarav up from his school and eat with him.
My Motorbike: My father gave me my heavymetal blue motorbike. I ride the bike sometimes to the studios and have also used it for photoshoots. 
The day Tina launched her store, White Window, I was running late for the event. So I rode my bike and zoomed in on time. Every week I clean the bike myself, I don't allow anyone else to touch it.
My Nano iPod: This is my latest obsession and I am hooked on to it. I am not a gizmo person, but I off late I have started surfing the Internet on my laptop, and download tracks in my iPod. My iPod has rap, hip-hop, club music, Spanish music. Recently when I was in Mauritius, I heard a Spanish track on the radio and I drove everyone crazy, asking for the song. Now I have it in my iPod.
Sweets and Mangoes: I am a mithai lover. I love those desi ghee Punjabi sweets and desserts. I love mangoes too. This summer I will be travelling for my world tour but I have asked my friends to get me Alphonso mangoes and other mithais from Mumbai. (Akki is so fond of mangoes that Vipul Shah incorporated it in his film, Waqt)
My DVDs: I try and watch at least one international film a day. I buy DVDs by the dozen. My alltime favourite film is Life Is Beautiful and I cry by the buckets whenever I see it. Jean Luc Goddard's Breathless is another favourite of mine. I wish someone in India could make a film like this.