Profile
Name: Shatrughan Prasad Sinha
Place of birth: Patna, Bihar, India
DOB: December 9, 1945
Star: Sagittarius
Occupation: Film actor-turned-politician

Recognition:

• Sinha was selected by Rediff as one of the most unconventional actors in Hindi cinema (the others being Ajay Devgan, Amitabh Bachchan, Irfan Khan, Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, and Sunil Shetty).

• He has been nominated for Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award three times and Filmfare Best Actor award once. He has won Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (Best Supporting Actor) and two Lifetime Achievement awards among others.

Interesting facts:

• Sinha was born to Bhubaneswari Prasad Sinha and Shyama Devi Sinha. He is the youngest of four brothers – Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and himself, and was educated in Patna Science College.

• He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune where currently there's a scholarship being awarded in his name to Diploma students.

• He moved to Mumbai where he started his career in the film industry. • He is married to former Miss India, Poonam Chandiramani.

• Shatrughan Sinha made his debut by playing a Pakistani military officer in Dev Anand's Prem Pujari. Subsequently, he got a small role as a police inspector in Sajan (1969). The release of the former was delayed, so the latter is often counted as his first project.

• In 2008, he became a judge on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge show season 4. In 2009, Sinha appeared on television show Dus Ka Dum season 2 as host for a special episode. He is currently hosting the Bhojpuri version of the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati.

• Sinha is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He entered politics by contesting in a by-election opposite Rajesh Khanna. He quoted in an interview that his biggest regret in his life was contesting election against his friend. Khanna who won the elections by beating Sinha by 25,000 votes  however, was hurt and never spoke to Sinha thereafter.

• Apart from being member of the parliament, he was also Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare (Jan 2003-May 2004) and Shipping (Aug 2004) in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

• The actor won the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar during the Indian general elections, 2009 by defeating another celebrity Shekhar Suman. Out of a total of 552,293 votes polled, Sinha received 316,472 votes. He won the seat in the subsequent Indian general elections, 2014, as well.

• As of May 2006, he was appointed as the head of the BJP Culture and Arts Department.

• In 2016, Anything but Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography was released.