1. He’s British. If you didn’t already know this, you probably belong in the undergrad program, where you’ll also learn things like “he grew up in West London,” “his parents are Gujarati Hindus,” “he has an older sister,” “he starred in Slumdog Millionaire,” “he dated Freida Pinto for six years,” and "he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Lion." Time to crack the books, kids.
2. He starred in the British teen drama Skins when he was 16. His mom got him the audition.
“The reason I’m in the industry is because of her,” Dev told The Guardian earlier this year. “She saw an advert for the Skins audition in Metro, tore it out and dragged me along to the National Youth Theatre in London. I had to bunk off school.”
3. He has a black belt in tae kwon do. (His mom is also to thank for this: She enrolled him in martial arts to help him burn off excess energy.) "He was a child when he first came to me," his instructor at Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy, Stuart Anslow, told the Evening Standard in 2010, when Patel starred in The Last Airbender. "Dev doesn't muck about. Some kids are there because their parents want them to be but he was there because he loved it. He was really serious about it. Everyone liked him, he was a good guy, a laugh.”
4. He’s “the biggest” Bruce Lee fan. As of last year, he was “collecting random Bruce Lee stuff, film posters and the like,” he told Esquire Middle East. If only you had his mailing address to send a gift. (That would be creepy — don't do it.)
5. He once stood outside the London premiere of Hancock to get a picture of Will Smith. “For three hours,” he told The Guardian. “I got a picture of his forehead and remember thinking: wow, this is so incredible.” Ten years later, he took his entire family to that same spot in Leicester Square for the London film festival premiere of Lion. “Now my goofy mug is on these pictures and I’m standing next to Nicole. My mum was very proud, and torn to pieces by the film.”
6. He’s writing movies of his own. He’s described one as “a hyper-modern action film, based on 5,000-year-old Hindu mythology, set in a heightened Bombay — an anthem for youth.” As long as he’s in it, it’s going to be good.
7. He listened to a Ben Howard song called “Promise” for months to prepare for his end scene in Lion. It’s on Spotify, if you want to imagine Dev listening to it in bed. With you beside him.
8. He doesn’t work hard for that hair. His secret: Cetaphil moisturizer. “After I finish moisturizing my face, I rub the rest of it in my hair,” he told Vulture.
9. He will not tell you why he and Freida Pinto split up. “No. I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t say,” he told The Guardian in 2015. Ever the gentleman.
10. He wasn’t even allowed to audition for Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s 2012 adventure fantasy. “I wasn’t getting cast after Slumdog,” he told The New York Times, because filmmakers thought he was too overexposed. “[Suraj Sharma, who got the part] did an amazing job, and the film blew me away, but there’s a part of me that’s like, damn, I wish I could have at least taken a shot at it.”
11. He thinks Zayn Malik “won the genetic lottery.” Or so he said in 2015, when a journalist pointed out that Dev's then newly long hair, which he explained was “for a film” (Lion), reminded her of Zayn Malik. (“Zayn who?” he responded at first.)
12. He doesn’t text. “I hate [it],” he told The Guardian. “My friends are like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to text.’ But instead, I call from my car and have a conversation. It’s too intimate for people nowadays.” I can name 1 million people for whom a call from Dev Patel is more than welcome.
