Viraf Patel

Viraf Patel (born Viraf Phiroz Patel on 12 June 1980) is an Indian actor, model and screenwriter. He was a sailor in the merchant navy between 1999 and 2004 and was titled as The Grasim Mr. India 2005. He is best known for his roles in Mahi Way, Kismat, Teri Meri Love Stories and Ek Boond Ishq. He made his debut in Theatre with Vikram Kapadia's Bombay Talkies in 2012.

Early life
Viraf was born and brought up in a Parsi Zoroastrian family in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Following encouragement from his brothers, he participated in Grasim Mister India Contest by Aditya Birla Group in 2005 and won the title of Grasim Mr India. He has two elder brothers.

Personal life
Viraf got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Saloni Khanna on 20 February 2021. The couple got married on 6 May 2021.

Career
After completing five years of sailing in the Merchant Navy, Patel participated in the Grasim Mister India Contest in 2005, of which he won. He would go on to pursue a modelling career where he would feature in various shows and TV commercials. He most notably modeled for Limca in 2010.

Patel was the face of India's largest garment retail brand Pantaloon from 2005 to 2009. Prior to his acting career, he modeled for many designers and was seen modelling at the India Fashion Week and Lakme Fashion Week.

In 2010, he made his acting debut in the mini-series Mahi Way. The following year he acted in another TV series Kismat where he played the lead character of Aditya Raj Merchant. Patel portrayed the role of a businessman in the BBC telefilm Tere Meri Love Stories where he starred alongside Shilpa Anand. He also acted in the drama, Ek Boondh Ishq, a BBC worldwide production and his first daily soap. The show stopped airing in October 2014.

From 2016-2017, Patel featured in Mahesh Bhatt's Naamkaran as Ashish Mehta, which aired on StarPlus. In addition to acting, he is also pursuing screenwriting under actor Boman Irani.

Patel had also directed and produced a documentary based on the daughters of sex workers. He made his web-series debut with 13 Mussoorie which aired on Viu.