Ravi Kishan

Ravindra Kishan Shukla (born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. He received a Sansad Ratna award in 2025 for his performance in parliamentary duties. His film works are predominantly in Bhojpuri and Hindi cinema, as well as Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Kannada and Tamil films.

In 2006, he participated in Bigg Boss. He ended up as the second runner up. He was also a contestant on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5 in 2012.

Kishan won Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor and IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Laapataa Ladies.

Ravi Kishan was born on 17 July 1969 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. He is the youngest of five siblings. He studied up to 12th at Rizvi College Bandra West, Mumbai. His family hails from Kerakat, Jaunpur district, Uttar Pradesh, where Kishan lived for about seven years.

Ravi Kishan married Priti Shukla on 10 December 1993, and they have four children, one son and three daughters. His daughter, Riva Kishan, made her film debut with Sab Kushal Mangal (2020). His other daughter, Ishita, who was an NCC cadet, joined the Indian Army in June 2023.

In June 2008, Kishan was awarded the Most Popular Actor award at the ETV Bhojpuri Cinema Samman 2008 function. Popular reality shows such as Bigg Boss, and more recently Ek Se Badhkar Ek – Jalwe Sitaron Ke have brought him to the front line of top Indian television actors. In 2008, he started co-hosting the celebrity dance-based reality show Bathroom Singer, Naman:Ek Sansani and Ek Se Badhkar Ek – Jalwe Sitaron Ke on Zee. Kishan also hosted the reality show Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka, on NDTV Imagine for two seasons. He worked with film directors Shyam Benegal and Mani Ratnam in 2010.

A film starring Kishan, Jala Debh Duniya Tohra Pyar Mein, produced by the American film company PUN Films, was shown in the India Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival 2010.^{[citation needed]}, In 2011 he had a role in the film Shraddha In The Name Of God directed by Gurubhai Thakkar.

In 2013, Kishan was one of the judges on the reality TV show Sales Ka Bazigar, telecast on ETV. The show aimed to find the best salesperson in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The top ten people who made it to the finales were to be employed by the presenter of the show Su-kam Power Systems. The winner would get a package of ten lakhs per annum, followed by the first runner-up winning a package of six lakhs per annum. This show was the first of its kind to find the best salesperson in India, and saw participation from over 10,000 people from regions across Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.