Rajesh Hamal is the most popular actor of Nepal, often termed as the only Superstar of Nepal. He was born on June 9, 1964 in Tansen, Nepal. He has acted in more then 230 Nepali Movies.
Rajesh Hamal studied at St.Xavier S School till the eighth grade. His father was a diplomat as such he partly went to college in Moscow and finished his M.A.in English from Punjab University, India. Even though he has Masters in English, Hamal reclines from talking in English preferring his native tongue Nepali, during his interviews.
He fell in love at age 17 with a 22-year-old Indian girl. It was serious. The affair lasted for nearly three years. Later, her parents married her off to someone else. He is still single.
Rajesh Hamal in his college years first modelled for Fashion Net, an Indian fashion magazine in 1985; walked the ramp in Kathmandu and New Delhi in 1986. He made his debut into the Nepalese Film Industry in 1990 in “Yug Dekhi Yug Samma”, a film made by his uncle. Initially, his parents were disappointed with his career choice. From the start of his career, he worked no less than 10 to 12 films a year.
Later, in his prime years, he even starred on more than 20 movies a year. Till date he has worked in over 230 Nepali films and one Pakistani movie. In 1994, director Tulsi Ghimire’s film “Deuta” shot Rajesh Hamal into super-stardom. He admits that due to his extremely busy schedule he doesn’t even get time to see his own movies these days.
As being the top actor of Nepali film industry, Rajesh Hamal is a lucky charm for producers – once he appears in a movie, it is bound to rock the box office. In context of the Nepalese film industry, which has market constraints, every director compete to take Rajesh Hamal into their project. He has been also criticized for not changing his looks to the need of the characters in the film. His long hair, which has long remained as his unique trademark, has been overlooked by the producer saying the Nepalese audience like him in long hair, so much so that he has been characterized as a cop with long hair.
At leisure Rajesh Hamal likes watch the news on BBC, CNN and other news channels, read non-fiction books and biographies. He is inspired by the teachings of H.H.14TH Dalai Lama and is very supportive of the cause for improving the lives of oppressed Tibetans in Tibet-occupied China, as well as the Tibetan refugees’ scenario in Nepal and India.
Rajesh Hamal is said to like to think, look back and look ahead at his life. He believes in the natural cause of law and effect “Karma.” Rajesh Hamal’s pet dog is named ‘Johnny’ after being awed by the role of Johnny Depp as Captain Jck Sparrow. He is deeply inspired by the late actor, Marlon Brando and was said to have said that his character in “on the Waterfront” would be his choice of movie if it were to be remade in Nepalese.
He is afraid of heights, and is an acrobatics. For a recent movie scene, he couldn’t bungee jump and so he had the stuntman fill in the scene. On another occasion, during a fight scene, his sword fell of its hilt and knocked four teeth of the cameraman. He is planning to get into the movie-making business in dual roles as Director and Actor.