Irfan Khan is from Jaipur, India. He was studying for his M.A. degree when he snagged a fellowship at National School of Drama in 1984.
After graduating in 1987, he moved to Mumbai. Theater and television kept him afloat till Mira Nair offered him a cameo in “Salaam Bombay". But the role was edited out of the final copy.
He continued to dabble in television making impacts on various soaps and tele-historicals series. To break away from television Irfan featured in few main stream movies but none of them were a box-office success.
But things changed when Landon based director Asif Kapadia gave him the lead in “The Warrior". An historical film completed in 11 weeks on the locals in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“The Warrior” stormed in international film festivals making Irfan Khan a noticed actor. His first Bollywood main lead role came in the movie “Rog".
He is married to writer Sutapa Sikdar and they have a son named Babil.