Profile: Dev Patel

BY: Howard Karren

He’s an actor whose characters often experience good fortune in ways that seem miraculous. And his career, despite his precocious youth, extraordinary talent and hard work and respect for his craft, can be seen as fortuitous as well. Dev Patel has never been formally trained; as a kid (his parents were Hindu Indian émigrés who moved from Kenya to London, where he was born) his parents looked for ways to channel his energy, first in martial arts, then in theater. As a high-school student he was cast in the popular teen TV series Skins, in a part that was essentially written for him. And at 17 he was cast as the lead of the Danny Boyle–directed Slumdog Millionaire, in which he had to feign Indian-accented English. Millionaire, of course, made history, winning a 2008 Best Picture Oscar and winning the hearts of global audiences for its passionate underdog story of a poor boy from Mumbai who wins everything—the game show prize and his lifelong love (Freida Pinto). Patel and Pinto became an offscreen couple as well, splitting only recently.

And though there have been stumbles, such as the critically creamed big-budget fantasy adventure The Last Airbender (2010), Patel has been blessed with his choice of film projects. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), about an Indian residence for retirees, was a huge success, joining him with a brilliant ensemble of British icons, including Judi Dench and Maggie Smith (both Dames), Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, and following that up with a sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in 2015. In between, Patel had a dazzling two-year stint in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom, and he starred in Chappie (2015), a shrewd South African sci-fi movie about a robot with a human soul. Around that time, at the ripe old age of 24, Patel took a firm hold of his career, carefully choosing and cultivating the movies in which he would perform. Such was the case with The Man Who Knew Infinity, the widely praised biopic of the pioneering Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, which opened in theaters last spring and is now available on video.

He was also drawn to director Garth Davis and Lion, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this September, generating thunderous Oscar buzz. It’s the story of a 5-year-old dirt-poor Indian boy who gets separated from his family and trapped on a train taking him hundreds of miles away from home, ending up in an orphanage. He is adopted by an Australian couple—Nicole Kidman becomes his mom—but memories of his beloved childhood family haunt him into adulthood. It’s based on an autobiographical novel by Saroo Brierley, and Patel plays the grown-up Saroo, who leaves his doting girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and ventures to India to find his birth mother and older brother. “Patel does arguably his most nuanced and heartfelt screen work to date,” says David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter of Lion, and on November 25, when it opens in theaters, audiences will be able to decide for themselves (see the trailer at top). “I like the idea of succeeding against the odds,” Patel says. “As a person, I think that’s something that appeals to me and something I’d like to watch when I’m in a dark cinema and want to be filled with hope and triumph.”