Manoj Bajpai is an Indian film actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. He is the recipient of two National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards.

Bajpayee received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the film. He then acted in films like Kaun (1999), and Shool (1999). For the latter, he won his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. Bajpayee further played the role of a prince with two wives in Zubeidaa (2001), a serial killer in Aks (2001) and a hitchhiker-turned-psychopath killer in Road (2002).

Bajpayee won the Special Jury National Award for Pinjar (2003). This was followed by a series of brief, unnoticed roles in films that failed to propel his career forward. He then played a greedy politician in the political thriller Raajneeti (2010), which was well received. In 2012, Bajpayee essayed the role of Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur. His next roles were of a naxalite in Chakravyuh (2012), and a CBI officer in Special 26 (2013). In 2016, he portrayed professor Ramchandra Siras, in Hansal Mehta‘s biographical drama Aligarh, for which he won his third Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.

Manoj is  married to Neha, who is also known as Shabana Raza, right after her debut film Kareeb (1998). The couple married in 2006 and have a daughter.