The dearth for young Hindi film heroes in their 20s has been finally filled to an extent by Shahid Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and now Imran Khan. The nephew of Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan and the Grandson of Nasir Hussain, Imran is a refreshing new addition to Hindi cinema as his very first film as leading man, Jaane Tu... Ya Jane Na (2008) proved.

Imran was born Imran Khan Pal on January 13, 1983 in Madison, Wisconsin in the United States. His mother, Nuzhat Khan, is the sister of director Mansoor Khan (QSQT, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar) and first cousin of Aamir Khan. His father, Anil Pal, is an alumnus of IIT, Mumbai and works in Silicon Valley. Imran's parents split up when he was a year and a half old. Nuzhat came back to India along with Imran who preferred to be called just Imran Khan. He did his major schooling at Bombay Scottish School, went back to live with his father in California as he finished high school there and subsequently he trained to become a Film Director in NYC. Though he had directorial ambitions, Abbas Tyrewala convinced him to play the lead in his directorial debut Jaane Tu... Ya Jane Na. Imran was no stranger to acting. He had played the young Aamir in both QSQT (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) earlier.

Produced by Aamir Khan, Jaane Tu... Ya Jane Na was not only was a huge success at the box office, but it also made Imran a star, a teen heart-throb. And though the film was undoubtedly a launch pad for Imran, to his credit, he never really 'steals the show' with his heroics. Instead, he woos you unexpectedly with his sense of gravity leavened by easy charm.

Imran's career so far parallel's Aamir's who it is said always harboured directorial ambitions but first became an actor. Aamir too played child roles in Yaadon ki Baraat (1973) and Madhosh (1974). Aamir's debut in mainstream Hindi cinema was a freshly treated love story with a Rajput background, QSQT. And he immediately followed it up with a totally off beat role in Raakh (1989). Similarly, Imran chose his next role to be as far away from his nice, cute guy act in Jaane Tu, playing a vicious kidnapper in Kidnap (2008). Though the reviews of the film were disappointing, Imran, by and large, received decent enough comments on his work in the film.

Imran's sole release of 2009 - Luck, however, was a disaster. Nothing quite works in his action thriller and Imran himself is totally defeated by the script. Still, he has other interesting films like Delhi Belly (2010) coming up.

On the personal front, he is engaged to longtime firlfriend Avantika Malik.