Dev Patel (born 23 April 1990) is a British actor. He began his career playing Anwar Kharral in the E4 teen drama Skins (2007). His breakthrough came with the leading role of teenager Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Patel's career expanded with leading roles in the comedy-dramas The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), the science fiction thriller Chappie (2015), and a supporting role in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). For his performance as Saroo Brierley in the drama Lion (2016), Patel won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently starred in the independent films Hotel Mumbai (2018), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) and The Green Knight (2021), and made his directorial debut with the action film Monkey Man (2024).
