Jimmy Sheirgill

Jimmy Sheirgill (born Jasjit Singh Gill; 3 December 1970), also credited as Jimmy Shergill, is an Indian actor and producer who primarily works in Hindi and Punjabi films. Sheirgill is a recipient of several accolades including one Producers Guild Film Award and one PTC Punjabi Film Award with one Filmfare Award nomination.

Sheirgill began his film career with the 1996 thriller Maachis. His breakthrough came with the blockbuster musical romantic drama Mohabbatein (2000), which became the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, following which he starred in several other box-office hits including - Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002), Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Hum Tum (2004), A Wednesday! (2008), Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Tanu Weds Manu (2011), Special 26 (2013), Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013), Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016) and De De Pyaar De (2019). His highest-grossing releases came with the comedy-drama Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), the drama film My Name Is Khan (2010) and the romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu: Returns (2015), all of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. The latter earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sheirgill made his Punjabi film debut with Yaaran Naal Baharan in 2005. His notable work in Punjabi cinema include Mel Karade Rabba (2010), Dharti (2011), Aa Gaye Munde U.K. De (2014), Shareek (2015) and Daana Paani (2018). He won the PTC Award for Best Actor for Mel Karade Rabba. The actor has also produced several Punjabi films.

Early life
Sheirgill was born on 3 December 1970, into a Jat family of Punjabi Sikh aristocracy. His paternal great aunt was the famous Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil.

He studied at St. Francis' College, Lucknow for a few years and then moved to his ancestral home state of Punjab, in 1985. He studied at The Punjab Public School, Nabha and at Bikram College, Punjabi University, Patiala. He completed his graduation degree from Post Graduate Government College - 11, Chandigarh and Panjab University.

Sheirgill went to Mumbai after a cousin convinced him to try his luck in the film industry. There, he attended Roshan Taneja's acting classes.

Hindi films
Sheirgill started his acting career in 1996 with the critically acclaimed film Maachis, directed by Gulzar, based on the terrorism in Punjab. The film did reasonably well at the box office and got him noticed by all the top filmmakers in the industry, which led him to being cast in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein alongside stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai. He has consistently won rave reviews for all his performances in films such as Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002), Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002), Haasil (2003), Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Yahaan (2005), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007), A Wednesday! (2008), My Name Is Khan (2010), Tanu Weds Manu (2011), Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013), Special 26 (2013), Bullett Raja (2013), Fugly (2014) and Tanu Weds Manu: Returns (2015). He also worked with rising star of the time Amisha Patel in Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar (2001). He won the Star Guild Awards previously known as Apsara guild awards for Best Actor In A Supporting Role for a movie A Wednesday!

Punjabi films
He started acting in Punjabi films in 2005 with Manmohan Singh's Yaaran Naal Baharan, which did well at the box office. He went on to act in several other Punjabi films. He is currently one of the top actors in the industry, and some of the films he has acted in have been hits. He plans to produce and act in one Punjabi film every year, for which he has signed a deal with Bollywood production house Eros International. His first film as a producer, Dharti, released in 2011 and did well at the box office. The next production from his company was Taur Mittran Di, that was released in May 2012. He has lined up two more films for production; the multi-star cast Saadi Love Story, in which he's cast Diljit Dosanjh, Amrinder Gill, Neetu Singh, Surveen Chawla and himself in a cameo and another film titled Rangeelay, which casts him in the lead with Neha Dhupia.

Personal life and other work
Sheirgill married his long time girlfriend Priyanka Puri in 2001. They have a son named Veer. Sheirgill changed the spelling of his surname "Shergill" to "Sheirgill" because the name Jimmy Shergill was already used on social media.

Sheirgill walked the ramp with underprivileged children for a charity fashion show in 2013. In 2014, he donated warm clothes for the homeless in North India. Sheirgill participated in the 6-hour telethon to raise funds to rebuild Kerala, which was devastated by floods in 2018.

Media image
Sampada Sharma of Indian Express said that Sheirgill is the actor "who focused more on the characters he played rather than being the hero". Agnivo Niyogi of The Telegraph noted, "Jimmy Sheirgill is an actor so good that he owns every frame he's in, no matter how popular or seasoned his co-star is." Firstpost termed him as "one of the most versatile actors" and added that he is known for being "very choosy about his roles".

In an interview, Sheirgill said that he believes his "unconventional film choices" have worked in his favour as the audiences now associate him with good roles. He further added that it has also led to a lot of interesting work coming his way. Rediff.com placed him 7th in its "Best Actors" list of 2011. Sheirgill is a celebrity endorser for brands and products such as Ezeepay and Mahindra Verito. He has also being the brand ambassador of Punjab Premier League.