One of the biggest Bollywood heartthrobs of the past decade, Shah Rukh Khan is the son of a renowned freedom fighter. Khan took an interest in theater while in high school and began performing in plays soon after graduation. He soon got work in television, and starred in a number of popular series before making the leap into feature films with Deewana, which was the first in a string of blockbusters that established him as one of India's most bankable stars. After starring in many films throughout the 1990s, Khan began branching out into other aspects of the movie industry, starting his own production company to produce Santosh Sivan's Asoka, in which Khan played the title role, among other films.