Vivek Oberoi

Biography

Vivek Anand Oberoi (born 3 September 1976) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi cinema, in addition to working in a few Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil films.

Vivek Oberoi was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, to a Punjabi father, Suresh Oberoi, an actor. In 1974, Suresh married Yashodhara, who hails from a Punjabi business family settled in Chennai.

Because his mother’s family is assimilated into the region, Oberoi is fluent in Tamil.

Oberoi went on to study at Mayo College, Ajmer, and Mithibai College, Mumbai.

At an actors' workshop in London, he was spotted by the director of New York University who took Oberoi to New York, where he completed his master's degree in film acting.

Oberoi's full first name, Vivekanand, is based on that of the Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda; his father and grandfathers were followers of the monk.

He says he dropped Anand when he joined movies out of respect for Vivekananda, as he considered it would be embarrassing romancing and dancing on screen with the name of the monk.

He credits Kareena Kapoor as his inspiration for adopting a vegetarian diet.

Oberoi dated his Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... co-star Aishwarya Rai. In 2003, Oberoi claimed that Rai's former boyfriend, Salman Khan, had threatened him.

In 2005, Oberoi and Rai broke up.

On 29 October 2010, Oberoi married Priyanka Alva, daughter of Karnataka minister Jeevaraj Alva, in Bangalore. The couple have a son and a daughter.