Anupam Tripathi

Biography:

Anupam Tripathi, born on November 2, 1988, is an Indian actor based in South Korea. He has appeared in several South Korean television series and films. His first major role as Ali Abdul in Netflix’s survival drama Squid Game (2021) brought him worldwide recognition.

Born in New Delhi, Tripathi developed an interest in acting after playing a slave in a stage production of Spartacus. From 2006 to 2010, he was part of playwright Shahid Anwar’s Behroop theater group.

He began training in singing and acting in 2006 and initially planned to attend the National School of Drama in New Delhi. However, in 2010, he moved to South Korea after receiving the Arts Major Asian scholarship to study at Korea National University of Arts. He initially struggled with cultural and language differences but became fluent in Korean within two years.

During his third year of university, Tripathi started performing in Korean plays and commercials. His first film appearance was in Ode to My Father (2014), where he played an unnamed Sri Lankan man. He had a minor role as a bomb expert fighting for Korean independence in the play 불량청년, which was featured at the 36th Seoul Theater Festival. He also had small roles in television series like Hospital Playlist (2020) and Rain or Shine (2017), as well as films such as Space Sweepers (2021) and Asura: The City of Madness (2015). Many of his characters portray migrant workers in Korean society.

Tripathi’s breakthrough came with his role as Ali Abdul, an undocumented Pakistani worker, in Squid Game (2021). Director Hwang Dong-hyuk mentioned that finding skilled foreign actors in Korea was challenging, and Tripathi was chosen for his emotional depth and fluency in Korean. Following the series’ global success, his Instagram following surged from 10,000 to over 2.5 million in just a few days.

He is fluent in English, Hindi, and Korean and earned his master’s degree in acting from Korea National University of Arts in 2024.