After working on the box-office hit The Life of Pi, Suraj Sharma, an actor of Indian heritage, left a remarkable impression on Hollywood. The New Delhi, India-born now has bagged one of the lead roles in How I Met Your Father, a spin-off of the 10-time Emmy-winning TV sitcom, How I Met Your Mother.
With seven years since How I Met Your Mother's end (in 2014), fans are more than excited to watch what the makers have made now with the POV of the woman of finding her true love. The Hulu spin-off stars Hillary Duff in the lead, notably joined by Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Chris Lowell, and Suraj Sharma.
Let's take a tour of the personal and professional life of the Saturn Award-winning actor.
Suraj Sharma: Age, Height & Family
Brought up in a Malayali family in New Delhi, India, the Homeland actor was born on March 21, 1993. So, as of 2021, Sharma, with a height of 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm), is 28 years old.
CAPTION: Suraj Sharma with his parents and siblings at New York Film Festival in 2012 SOURCE: Instagram@lifeofpimovie While he comes from a family background with no acting experience, Suraj Sharma's dedication indeed has to lead him into a successful on-screen journey. For sure, the actor's Hollywood fame has made his parents proud; his father, Gokul Churai, is a software engineer, while his mother, Shailaja Sharma, is an economist.
The Indian actor is the eldest of three; he grew up with his younger brother Sriharsh Sharma, an occasional actor, and sister Dhruvatara Sharma.
Won The Role In 'Life Of Pi' While At College
Following secondary schooling at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, the potential Hollywood figure enrolled at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, to study Philosophy. While as a student, Sharma auditioned the role of Pi Patel for the film Life of Pi, which none thought would be one of Ang Lee's best directions.
And indeed, it did was a tough competition, as he beat out the international casting of 3000 young men trying for the role. The film is about the adventure of 16-year old Pi, who gets adrift in the Pacific Ocean after his ship gets wrecked. Moreover, it also describes the strength of mentality as he shares the lifeboat with a Bengal tiger; he named him Richard Parker.
The movie, released on November 21, 2012, had a budget of $120 million and made a whopping $609 million at the box office while earning 11-Academy Award nominations at 85th Academy Awards.
Net Worth And Career Journey
The Life of Pi actor Suraj Sharma is yet to come up with exact details on his fortune, including property ownership. Though his estimated net worth is around $2 million as of 2021- big thanks to the breakthrough from the aforementioned film.
After completion of Life of Pi, the Hollywood new break returned to St. Stephen's College to complete his studies. Subsequently, he moved to the United States and studied at Tisch, New York University, to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
From 2014 to 2015, Suraj Sharma portrayed the recurring cast, Aayan Ibrahim, in Homeland. Moreover, he would work in the film Million Dollar Arm in 2014.
Then for a couple of years, he worked in movies: Burn Your Maps (2016), The Hungry (2017), and Phillauri (2017), before the role of series regular, Rakesh Singh, in God Friended Me (2018-20). In 2019, the actor worked in Happy Death Day 2U, Killerman, and The Illegal.
Cast In 'How I Met Your Father'
The TV sitcom How I Met Your Father, a spin-off of How I Met Your Mother, already saw the pens of original creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas back in 2014. But it was until recently before it got picked.
The upcoming Hulu's 10-episode TV sitcom will star Hilary Duff along with other casts Tom Ainsley, Suraj Sharma, Chris Lowell, and Francia Raisa.
CAPTION: Indian actor Suraj Sharam, the Life of Pi actor got one of the leads in How I Met Your Father SOURCE: Instagram@dcsaff As per IMDB, it is under pre-production and will be under the direction of Pam Fryman, who directed 196 out of 208 episodes of HIMYM.
The story plot shows Duff as Sophie, the narrator, and protagonist who would tell a story to her son about how she and his father met. Unlike the original series, it takes place in the age of social media and dating apps.
As for the role of Suraj, he will portray the best friend and roommate of Jesse (portrayed by Chris Lowell), an uber driver.
Aside from that, he is set to appear in Wedding Season (post-production); these are likely to jump his net worth up in the coming days.
Is HIMYF Actor Suraj Sharma Dating?
Busy with his on-screen projects, Sharma barely posts about his personal life on social media or ever has opened up any updates in detail. At the moment, no report on the relationship or girlfriend of the How I Met Your Father actor is out.
Online sources assume he is probably single and is not dating currently. Well, he is not active on Instagram, while his Twitter (@ImSurajSharma) with 30.4K followers are all about his works.
But, the Indian actor did have a girlfriend in the past. As a teen, while attending Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Suraj Sharma was in a relationship with then-girlfriend Gayatri Alma, his classmate. After dating for 3 years, he reportedly proposed to Gaytri on October 7, 2009, on the latter's birthday, and got engaged.
However, the love story of the teens began to fade after the rising Hollywood phenomena earned the role in Life of Pi and skipped school as well as his country for a while. They broke up in August 2010.
In a 2015 interview with DNA India, the actor denied having any contact with her.