Tanay Chheda

Tanay Hemant Chheda is an Indian actor. He is best known for his child performances in the critically acclaimed films Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008), with the latter earning him the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and a nomination for Best Ensemble at the Black Reel Awards of 2008.

Early life

Chheda is a Gujarati Jain with roots in Mandvi, Kutch who was born in Mumbai, India, where he currently lives. He attended the prestigious Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, US.

Film career

He was first seen in the movie Don in 2006. He has the critically acclaimed Taare Zameen Par (Like Stars on Earth) in 2007 to his name and the award-sweeping Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.

In Don, he played the role of Deepu, the son of Jasjit (played by Arjun Rampal) . In Taare Zameen Par, he played the role of a handicapped child who is an extremely helpful and supportive friend to the protagonist Ishaan (played by Darsheel Safary). In Slumdog Millionaire, Chheda played the role of Jamal Malik, in adolescence, for which he has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and received a nomination for Best Ensemble at the Black Reel Awards of 2008. He portrayed the young Rizwan Khan, an autistic child, in Shah Rukh Khan's film, My Name Is Khan. He was nominated for the best child actor in Star Screen Awards for My Name Is Khan.

His last appearance in a feature length film was in a German film Hexe Lilli- Journey to Mandolan (2011).