Biographie
Alexx O'Nell (born Alexander Leonard O'Neill) is an American-born actor and musician who is based in India and has starred in dozens of feature films and series in English and Indian languages. He is best known for "Ae Watan Mere Watan" (2024), "Khufiya" (2023), "Golondaaj" (for which he was nominated for 'Best Actor' by the 'West Bengal Film Journalists Association' in 2022), "Sweet Kaaram Coffee" (2023) (Amazon's first Original Series in Tamil), "Roohi", "Aarya", "Main Aur Charles", "Cheeni Kum", "Madrasapattinam", "Joker", "Chittagong", "Inside Edge", "Bose Dead / Alive", and "Urumi" (aka "Ek Yodha Shoorveer").
2025 is O'Nell's most prolific year yet with 7 theatrical feature film releases including "Lucifer 2: Empuraan" (2025, Malayalam/English), "Phule" (2025, Hindi/English), "Kesari Chapter 2" (2025, Hindi/English), as well as the soon-to-be-released "Pokkhirajer Dim" (2025, Bengali/English) and the upcoming "Devi Chowdhurani, The Bandit Queen of Bengal" (2025, Bengali/English), "Raghu Dakat" (2025, Bengali/English), and "Thamma" (2025, Hindi).
His upcoming series include Amazon Prime Video's "Bak Bak" (2026, Hindi) and Bhooth Bangla" (2026, Hind / English)
O'Nell has appeared in numerous commercials and has endorsed products like Captain Morgan (Asia), Mouin Glaciere Perfume (MENA), Panasonic AirConditioners (India), Finolex Pipes (India), 7Up (Bangladesh), etc.
In addition to acting, he is a singer-songwriter and guitarist best known in South Africa for his singles and music videos: "Still On My Mind", "A Bhagavad Gita Song" (In Sanskrit), "Twenty Days", "These Four Walls", "Pride", and "Ghosts".
The third child of an American father and a Dutch mother, O'Nell grew up in Madison, Connecticut and began his acting career with community and regional theater in the United States. He starred in over a dozen musicals and plays over a span of 10 years, later working in television advertisements in India and internationally, finally landing character roles and appearances in such films as the Hindi feature "Cheeni Kum" (2007) and the English feature "Loins of Punjab Presents" (2007). He later gained recognition as a contestant on the hugely popular Indian celebrity dance competition "Nach Baliye" (Season 3, 2007), and finally in lead roles in various film and television projects.
Following a high-profile relationship with Indian actress Sweta Keswani, O'Nell and Keswani were married in October and November 2008 in four different ceremonies. They lived together in Mumbai, India until their separation in mid-2011. O'Nell subsequently had a relationship with Indian actress Shama Sikander, who features in two of his music videos.
O'Nell attended Boston University, graduating after 3 years with a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.A. in Psychology.
O'Nell's first leading role in a big-budget production came alongside Amy Jackson and Arya in "Madrasapattinam" (2010), following which O'Nell returned to television to star in the Indian prime time historical drama "Jhansi Ki Rani" (2010) and the contemporary drama "Dhoondh Legi Manzil Humein" (2011). Late 2011 saw the release of the Hindi language feature "Jo Dooba So Paar" (2011) with O'Nell in a supporting role alongside Vinay Pathak, after which he was seen in a lead role in Shirish Kunder's "Joker" (2012) with Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. Bedabrata Pain's war epic "Chittagong" (2012), with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Barry John, Rajkummar Rao, Vijay Varma and others, released to overwhelming critical acclaim, as did one of his most significant early projects: a double-lead role in the multilingual "Urumi" (2011), steered by acclaimed Indian director Santosh Sivan, also starring Genelia D'Souza, Prabhudeva, and Vidya Balan.
"Gangster" (2014) and "Manglish" (2014) both featuring O'Nell alongside South-Indian superstar Mammootty, cemented his position in Malayalam / South Indian cinema. However, his subsequent appearances were mostly cameos including in "Lucifer" (2019), "SyeRaa" (with Chiranjeevi) (2019), "RRR" (2022) (along side Aliya Bhatt), and Captain Miller (2024) until his latest Malayalam film, "L2: Empuraan" (2025) featured O'Nell in a large supporting role.
O'Nell enjoyed significant critical acclaim for his performance in director Prawaal Raman's Hindi / English feature "Main Aur Charles" (2015) with Randeep Hooda, Adil Hussain, & Richa Chadha; was seen in "Ek Yodha Shoorveer" (2016), a Hindi dubbed and re-edited version of "Urumi" (2011), as well as Alexander the Great in Balaji Telefilms' "Chandra Nandni" (2016), before featuring in the launch of virtually every major Video On Demand / "OTT"/ Webseries platform in India. These include Amazon Prime's "Inside Edge"(2017), Alt Balaji's "Bose Dead/Alive" (2017), Netflix's "21 Sarfarosh" (2018), and Disney+ Hotstar VIP's "Aarya" (2020). While "21 Sarfarosh" featured O'Nell speaking almost exclusively in Hindi, "Aarya" garnering him noteworthy praise for his portrayal of a musician who sings in Sanskrit. The much awaited "Roohi" (2021), O'Nell's third project with Rajkummar Rao (also starring Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Sharma), fared well in cinemas despite the pandemic, and garnered the actor positive reviews.
In addition to acting work, 2020 also saw the release of O'Nell's first original English musical composition "Still On My Mind" (2020) and the associated music video which features actress Shama Sikander. His second single "A Bhagavad Gita Song" (2020) is an original composition with lyrics drawn from the Sanskrit poetry of the Hindu holy book. His third, "Twenty Days" (2021) again in English and again featured Sikander along side Alexx in the music video. His fourth and sixth and seventh singles "These Four Walls" (2023), "Pride" (2024), and "Ghosts" (2025) are particularly successful in South Africa where the songs were produced, and the videos shot featuring the city of Cape Town.
Having been active in the Bengali film industry since his debut in 2017 as the main antagonist in "Yeti Obhijaan" (2017), O'Nell's football (soccer) blockbuster "Golondaaj" (2021), in which he starred alongside Dev Adhikari, earned him a 'Best Actor' nomination. His most recent Bengali feature, "Pokkhirajer Dim" (2025), has also fared well commercially and critically.
O'Nell's most recent Hindi releases "Phule" (2025) and "Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh" (2025), both extremely successful in theaters, combined with "Pokkhirajer Dim" (2025) and the upcoming films "Devi Chowdhurani, The Bandit Queen of Bengal" (2025) and "Raghu Dakat" (2025) due later in the year, will make 2025 the actor's most productive year yet. with a total of 6 theatrical releases.
Among other films, series, original music, and music videos, the much awaited "Bak Bak" (2026 Hindi) starring O'Nell along side Divya Dutta is expected in 2026.
With over 60 Film and Series credits, spanning English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Portuguese and Sanskrit, Alexx O'Nell is the most prolific and widely recognized foreign male actor in India.
Further, his varied performances, commercial success, and critical acclaim make Alexx O'Nell the most successful white actor India has seen since the legendary Tom Alter, with whom he is frequently compared.
