Dharmendra was born as on December 8, 1935 in Phagwara, Punjab. His original name is Dharam Singh Deol. He is famous by his nickname as Dharam and Dharminder. During his childhood, he used to do hosiery work in Ludhiana city. He had married twice. First, he married Prakash and then Hema Malini. They are said to have fallen in love on the sets of Sholay (1975) although they have made many films together before and after Sholay. His two sons by his first wife, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, are also successful actors. He has two daughters, starlet Esha Deol and Ahana Deol, by Hema Malini. His nephew Abhay Deol is also an actor.
At the start of his career he was usually cast as a romantic hero against actresses such as Mala Sinha and Meena Kumari. His first major hit film was Phool Aur Paththar. As action movies became more popular, he took on action hero roles. Perhaps the most memorable of these was his role in the 1975 Sholay, where he was teamed with Amitabh Bachchan.
He has recently entered into politics. He became the Member of Parliament in the 2004 general elections from Bikaner, Rajasthan. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius
He had the looks of a real gentle man, the masculine body of a he-man and when it came to his films, he had a very humorous touch in his dialog-delivery and the timing, especially. The heroics in his films - Phool Aur Patthar (1966), Jugnu (1973), Raja Jani (1972) and Loafer (1973) - are all quite remarkable and unforgettable. Let’s not forget that all these films were big blockbusters in India. And not to forget his quite unbelievable performance he’d shown in the role he played as “Veeru” in Sholay (1975). And who can forget his dialog delivery in this movie, whether it was with Basanti or his famous “suicide” dialog.
Though he and his films got nominated for Filmfare awards and though he couldn’t get one for his films, he, in the end, has got the best award in his life - “The Life Time Achievement” award in 1997 from Filmfare for his achievements, splendid performance during his times and wonderful career in Bollywood.