Tom Alter Biography

Tom Alter (born 1950) is an Indian actor of American origin. As a thespian and television actor, he is most prominently known for his work in Hindi language Indian cinema. A native of the small Uttarakhand city of Mussoorie.

Tom Alter is the son of American missionaries and has lived for years between the metropolis of Mumbai and the Himalayan hill station of Landour.

As a child, he studied Hindi and Urdu and, as a result, has occasionally been referred to as the "Blue-eyed sahib with the impeccable Hindi". Alter is uniquely talented for his fluency in Hindi and knowledge of Indian culture.

He has worked for famous filmmakers like Satyajit Ray in "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" (The Chess Players) and Ismail Merchant. In "Sardar", the 1993 film biography of Indian leader Sardar Patel, which focused on the events surrounding the partition and independence of India, Tom Alter portrayed Lord Mountbatten.

He has also played Indian characters in Indian television series, such as the long-running "Junoon", in which he was the sadistic mob lord Keshav Kalsi.In 1996 he appeared in the Assamese-language film "Adajya", and in 2007 acted in the theatrical reproduction of William Dalrymple's City of Djinns alongside Zohra Sehgal,Manish Joshi Bismil and Rahul Pulkeshi.

Tom Alter's first cousin Stephen Alter, also born and raised in India, is a notable author and teacher.