[2][3] Born in an Assamese Muslim family in Goalpara, Assam on 5 October 1963,[4][5][6] where his father was the headmaster of a high secondary school, Hussain was the youngest of seven children.

He worked as a stand-up comedian for six years, joined a mobile theatre and also did some local cinema,[10][11] before moving to Delhi, where he studied at National School of Drama (1990–1993).

[7] As an actor, he first received acclaim in Othello: A Play in Black and White (1999), which was awarded the Edinburgh Fringe First,[12] and later Goodbye Desdemona also directed by Roysten Abel.

[11][13] In 2004, he made his Bengali film debut along with Soha Ali Khan in the period drama Iti Srikanta, where he played the lead role.

In the same year, he appeared in Italian director Italo Spinelli's Gangor, Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Ang Lee's Life of Pi.

[4] He next appeared alongside Sridevi in the comedy drama English Vinglish (2012), and also received critical acclaim for his role in Lessons in Forgetting at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest.

His Hindi movies include Main Aur Charles as Amod Kant,[1] Jai Ho Democracy as Major Baruah, and Angry Indian Goddesses as a police superintendent.

Adil Hussain's 2017 releases include Commando 2: The Black Money Trail, Love Sonia, Mantra, Mukti Bhawan, Dobaara: See Your Evil,[20] Kabuliwala, and Naval Enna Jewel.

[citation needed] During the 1999 Edinburgh Film Festival, Hussain, cast as Othello, fell in love with Kristen Jain, who was playing Desdemona.