As the country celebrates Bihar Diwas on Friday, IANS has compiled a list of actors from the state who have made it big on the big screen and are making waves in Bollywood.

Manoj Bajpayee: The National Film Award winner, who is from village Belwa in West Champaran district, applied for admission into the National School of Drama (NSD) four times, but got rejected on each occasion. That did not stop him from pursuing his celluloid dreams and attaining the fame he could never have dreamt of.

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He made his film debut with a one-minute role in the 1994 Naseeruddin Shah-Om Puri-starrer ‘Drohkaal’, followed by a minor role as a dacoit in Shekhar Kapur’s much-acclaimed ‘Bandit Queen’. Fame came Bajpayee’s way when he played the gangster Bhiku Mhatre in Ram Gopal Varma’s 1998 crime drama ‘Satya’.

The 54-year-old actor is well known for his roles in movies such as ‘Kaun?’, ‘Shool’ and ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. He has also made a place for himself in the OTT universe with projects like ‘The Family Man’, ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’, ‘Gulmohar’, ‘Dial 100’, ‘Silence … Can You Hear It?’, ‘Killer Soup’ and ‘Ray’.

Pankaj Tripathi: The 47-year-old actor is an alumnus of the National School of Drama and gained recognition with his character of Sultan Qureshi in Anurag Kashyap’s 2012 crime drama ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.

Born in a Bhojpuri-speaking Brahmin family at Belsand village in Barauli, Gopalganj district, Tripathi is the recipient of two National Film Awards.

His first film as a lead actor was the 2017 neo-noir thriller ‘Gurgaon’, starring Akshay Oberoi and Ragini Khanna. Tripathi has also marked his place in the digital space with projects such as ‘Sacred Games’, ‘Mirzapur’ (where he’s returning in the third edition), ‘Criminal Justice’, ‘Kadak Singh’, and most recently, ‘Murder Mubarak’.

Sanjay Mishra: Coming from Darbhanga, Sanjay, who is known for playing the goofy gangster in hit films such as ‘Golmaal: Fun Unlimited’ and ‘Dhamaal’, is also an alumnus of the National School of Drama.

His father was a Press Information Bureau employee and because he was transferred to Varanasi, Mishra spent most of his growing-up years in the sacred city.

Mishra made his acting debut in the 1995 film ‘Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India!’, but he attracted notice because of his work in the television sitcom, ‘Office Office’. The show was a satirical take on corruption in India, with Pankaj Kapur in the lead role. More recently, he was seen in ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ and the made-for-OTT crime thriller ‘Bhakshak’, starring Bhumi Pednekar in the lead.

Vinay Pathak: Born in Bhojpur, Bihar, Pathak spent his early childhood in Dhanbad, where his father was posted in the police department. The actor then moved to the US for higher studies.

Pathak’s notable projects include ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, ‘Bheja Fry’ and ‘Hip Hip Hurray’. In the OTT space, he has left a mark in the hearts of the audience with his work in ‘Special Ops’, ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’, ‘PI Meena’, and most recently, ‘The Archies’.