Prem Chopra (born 23 September 1935) is an Indian actor in Hindi and Punjabi films. He has acted in 320 films over a span of over 50 years. He has a soft spoken diction despite being a villain in most films.

Personal life and education

Prem Chopra, the third of six children of Ranbirlal and Rooprani Chopra, a Punjabi Hindu family, was born on 23 September 1935, in Lahore. After the partition of India, his family moved to Shimla, where he was brought up. His father desired that Prem be a doctor or an Indian Administrative Services officer.

Prem Chopra completed his schooling and college from Shimla after his father, who was a government servant, got transferred there. He graduated from Punjab University. He took part in college dramatics enthusiastically. At his father's insistence, he completed his graduation and then went to Mumbai. Soon after he made his debut film, his mother was detected with mouth cancer and she died, leaving his then nine-year-old sister Anju to be looked after by his father and his four other brothers. The brothers had given warning to their respective wives that only if their sister is happy would they be happy and Prem considers his sister as his first daughter. Noted writer-director Lekh Tandon brought the proposal of Uma for marriage to Prem. Uma was the younger sister of the siblings Krishna Kapoor, Prem Nath and Rajendranath. The couple have three daughters, Rakita, Punita and Prerna Chopra. Rakita is married to film publicity designer Rahul Nanda. Punita owns a pre-school called Wind Chimes in Bandra, suburban Mumbai, and is married to singer and television actor Vikas Bhalla. Prerna is married to Bollywood actor Sharman Joshi. He resides in a duplex apartment in Pali Hill, Bandra in Mumbai.