Amitabh Bachchan, a renowned Indian film actor, was born on October 11, 1942. He was born in the city of Allahabad, India. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh's father, was a well-known poet of Hindi and Urdu. His mother's name was Teji Bachchan.

Bachchan studied at Allahabad's Boys' High School, followed by Nainital's Sherwood College, where he gained a degree in art stream. He later went on to study at Kirori Mal College in Delhi University earning a degree in science. When he was in his twenties, Bachchan gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm, Bird and Co., based in Kolkata, to pursue a career in acting.

In search of a career in acting, he left the job and moved to Bombay to find work as a film star. His all effort went in vain as film-makers preferred someone with a fairer skin and he was not fair enough to suit any role there. But the film industry did use one of his other assets, his deep baritone voice, which was used for narration and background commentary. Starting with the low key Saat Hindustani, Bachchan struggled through many roles and was relegated at times to doing voice-overs and in one instance playing a deaf-mute.

Amitabh was a friend of the late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. He got his break in Bollywood after a letter of introduction from the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the mother of Rajiv Gandhi. This is how Amitabh made an entry into Bollywood, starting with Zanjeer released in 1973, co-starred with his future wife-to-be Jaya Bhaduri, and since then there has been no looking back for him. He married Jaya Bhaduri, an actress in her own rights; he has two kids, Shweta and Abhishek.

He left films in 1985 to become a Member of Parliament from Allahabad constituency as a Congress party candidate, as a favor to his family friend Rajiv Gandhi - the then new Prime Minister of India. Amitabh had to leave midterm because of controversies; particularly after Rajiv and he were implicated in the now infamous "Bofors" case along with the U.K. based Hinduja Brothers. After a break of four years, he was back in the unsuccessful Mrityudaata in 1997, a comeback which the actor wanted to forget. Critics written him off but his career was saved with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan that was released in 1998. But four flops in 1999 and incurring debt of more than 90 crores rupees of his sinking company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) saw him at an all-time low. To make matters worse, after the defeat of the Congress party, Amitabh lost considerable political support and the opposition party made him a target; his credit rating deteriorated to such an extent that one of the leading nationalized banks, Canara Bank, sued him for huge amount of loans.

He bounced back in 2000 when he was presenting the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire called "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" After a series of hits with Mohabbatein in 2000, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001 and Baghban 2003 and his most recent Khakee in 2004, a 60-plus Amitabh is showing no signs of slowing down and proving the critics wrong once again.