Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and singer who works in Hindi films. Born to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he established the production company Excel Entertainment, along with Ritesh Sidhwani, in 1999.

Akhtar made his directorial debut with Dil Chahta Hai (2001), a coming-of-age film that has since become a cult classic. Receiving acclaim for depicting urban youth realistically, the film won the National Award for Best Hindi Film, and two Filmfare Awards for Akhtar (Best Film (Critics) and Best Screenplay). He then directed the war film Lakshya (2004), the action thriller Don (2006) and its sequel Don 2 (2011).

As an actor, Akhtar made his screen debut with the musical drama Rock On!! (2008), for which he won a second National Film Award for Best Hindi Film (as producer) as well as the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He starred in, wrote the dialogues for, and produced the buddy-road film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), which won him Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Dialogue. Akhtar then portrayed athlete Milkha Singh in the biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013), winning the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. His subsequent roles were in the family drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), the crime thriller Wazir (2016), and the dramas The Sky Is Pink (2019) and Toofaan (2021).

Farhan Akhtar was born in Mumbai, the second child of screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani. He has one elder sister, the writer–director Zoya Akhtar. His ancestors belonged to Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He was very young when his parents divorced; his father married actress Shabana Azmi in 1984. His mother retained the family home in Bandra Bandstand and raised her children there. Akhtar studied at Maneckji Cooper School in Mumbai and then pursued a law degree at HR College, also in Mumbai. Akhtar's father, a Muslim by birth and culture, is a socialist and has described himself as an atheist; Akhtar's mother, born into an Irani Zoroastrian family in India, is indifferent to religion, and was content to let her children grow up with no religion. Akhtar has stated that he is an atheist.

Akhtar's family hails from Khairabad in the Avadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, and he comes from a long lineage of Urdu poets. He is the grandson of Urdu poet Jan Nisar Akhtar and great-grandson of Urdu poet Muztar Khairabadi. On his mother's side, Akhtar is the nephew of the child actress Daisy Irani and the first cousin of choreographer & director Farah Khan and film director Sajid Khan.

Akhtar married Adhuna Bhabani in 2000, after being in a relationship with her for 3 years. They first met during the filming of his directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai, which also marked Bhabani's debut as a Bollywood hairstylist. The couple has two daughters named Shakya and Akira. On 21 January 2016, they announced their separation after 16 years of marriage. Their divorce was finalised on 24 April 2017, with Bhabani having custody of their children.

Akhtar started dating video jockey Shibani Dandekar in 2018. On 19 February 2022, they got married in a non-religious ceremony at his Khandala farmhouse.

Akhtar worked as an apprentice in film distribution and direction for Yash Chopra's Lamhe (1991) when he was 17 years old and later moved to an advertisement production house named "Script Shop" to spend an approximate 3 years there. He also assisted Pankaj Parashar as a director in Himalay Putra (1997) before launching himself into direction and writing.