Bront Palarae

Early life and education

Palarae was born Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. He is of Malay, Punjabi-Pakistani and Thai ancestry. In 2005, he received a scholarship from the Italian government to attend a short course in Language & Culture at the University for Foreigners Perugia, Italy. He overstayed and toured the country for the next four months.

2000–2008: Early years

Palarae made his acting debut on television in 2000, his first feature film Lang Buana (2003) but he first gained fame by portraying two characters in Cinta Tsunami, a television series in 2005.

In 2008, with the release of his biggest commercial success, SinDarEla (Cinderella), he rose to prominence in a lead role, Hussin on the hit television series with Sharifah Amani and Remy Ishak, followed by another television series, Rona Roni Makaroni in the same year, again with Sharifah Amani.

2009–2015: Breaking into film

Uncomfortable with his career direction, the media-shy actor turned his focus to film roles. Since then, he started attracting a variety of roles in films including Anak Halal (2005), Man Laksa (2005) and Bilut (2005). His first major role was in V3: Samseng Jalanan, starring alongside his good friend, Farid Kamil who also directed the movie. V3:Samseng Jalanan grossed over RM4.1 million at the box office.

In 2009, Palarae starred in Belukar alongside Daphne Iking, directed by Jason Chong. Though the movie did not do well at the box office, his acting was praised among critics and audiences alike. He won the Best Actor award at the 23rd Malaysia Film Festival and also the Anugerah Skrin 2010 for his performance in Belukar.

In 2010, Palarae co-founded Otto Films and through the company, he co-produced, co-written & co-directed Kolumpo, a feature film released in 2013. He also served Camwerk Studios as Creative Consultant to help developed The Kidnap Case of Ammar Affendi and secured a co-production deal with RexMedia (US) at the Marche Du Film at Festival De Cannes at the same year. He was later appointed as the Brand Ambassador for Edwin Denim Malaysia and also the face of local fashion designer Fairuz Ramdhan.

2016–present: Going regional

In 2016, Palarae starred in a Malaysian sports football film Ola Bola, Chiu Keng Guan's latest film after the record-breaking The Journey. Not only that the film made RM15.85 million and became the 5th highest-grossing Malaysian film of all time, Bront also won the Kuala Lumpur Critics' Choice Award 2016 in the Best Supporting category, for his role in the film.

After winning the Best Actor award for Terbaik Dari Langit at the Asean International Film Festivals (AIFFA) 2015, he was roped in for HBO Asia's original series titled Halfworlds directed by Indonesian filmmaker, Joko Anwar. He later joined the Mo Brothers on their latest film titled Headshot, starring Iko Uwais. In 2016, Palarae joined the cast of comedy film My Stupid Boss as a collaboration with another Indonesian filmmaker, Upi Avianto.

At the recent 2016 Asian Television Award, Palarae was nominated for his role in the telemovie Eropah, Here I am through the "Best Actor In A Leading Role" category.

Bront is currently working on Pengabdi Setan (Satan's Slave), a remake of classic Indonesian horror film by Joko Anwar. This would be his second collaboration with Joko after HBO Asia's Halfworlds series.

Humanitarian work

In 2012, Palarae joined the AQSA2Gaza11 Emergency Relief trip to Gaza organised by Aqsa Syarif, a Malaysian non-governmental organisation that focuses on helping the people of Palestine affected by the Gaza-Israel conflicts occurring that year.

He was the goodwill ambassadors for the UNICEF's My Promise To Children campaign to emphasise children’s rights in Malaysia.

TV commercials