Background and career
Salman Khan (pronounced [səlˈmaːn xaːn] ; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awards as a film producer, and two Filmfare Awards as an actor. He has acted in over 80 films. He has been cited as one of the most popular and commercially successful actors of Indian cinema, and was included in Forbes lists of the world's highest-paid celebrities in 2015 and 2018. Khan has a large following in India and among the Indian diaspora worldwide. His popularity has been particularly associated with commercially successful Hindi-language films, with his work spanning genres including action, comedy, romance and drama.
Khan began his acting career with a supporting role in Biwi Ho To Aisi (1988), followed by his breakthrough with a leading role in Sooraj Barjatya's romantic drama Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), for which he was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He established himself with other commercially successful films, including Lawrence D'Souza's romantic drama Saajan (1991), Barjatya's family dramas Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), the action film Karan Arjun (1995) and the comedy Biwi No.1 (1999). This followed a period of decline in romantic comedy, musicals and tragedy drama in the 2000s. Khan resurrected his screen image with the action film Wanted (2009), and achieved greater stardom in the following decade by starring in the top-grossing action films Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dabangg 2 (2012), Kick (2014), and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), and the dramas Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) and Sultan (2016). This was followed by a series of poorly received films which failed critically and commercially, with the exception of Bharat (2019) and Tiger 3 (2023). Khan has starred in the annual highest-grossing Hindi films of 10 individual years, the highest for any actor.
In addition to his acting career, Khan is a television presenter and promotes humanitarian causes through his charity, Being Human Foundation. He has been hosting the reality show Bigg Boss since 2010. Khan's off-screen life is marred by controversy and legal troubles. In 2015, he was convicted of culpable homicide for a negligent driving case in which he ran over five people with his car, killing one, but his conviction was set aside on appeal. On 5 April 2018, Khan was convicted in a blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to five years imprisonment. On 7 April 2018, he was out on bail while an appeal was ongoing.
Khan is the eldest son of screenwriter Salim Khan (born 24 November 1935) and his first wife Sushila Charak, who adopted the name Salma (born 8 December 1942); they had got married on 18 November 1964. Born to a Muslim father and Hindu mother on 27 December 1965, Salman Khan was brought up in both faiths. In 1981, when Salim married the actress Helen (born 21 November 1938) the children's relationship with their father grew hostile and only recovered years later.
How Salman Khan makes money
Earning more than ₹2 billion ($63.8 million) worldwide, the film became the biggest Bollywood hit of the year and the highest-grossing Indian film up until then. Dabangg 2 eventually emerged as a huge financial success with revenues of ₹2.5 billion (US$46.78 million) globally.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2025-04-24), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
