Shiv Palekar

Shiv Palekar is an Indian actor. He was born in the 1990s in Mumbai, India, and raised in Hong Kong. In 2012, Palekar moved to Sydney, Australia, to study acting at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After Palekar graduated in 2014, he joined the Bell Shakespeare players national tour. This helped his transition into the Australian acting industry. Palekar gained numerous theatre acting roles in the following years. He secured work for some of Australia's notable companies including the Griffin Theatre Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. In 2019, Palekar worked with Belvoir on the theatre show Counting and Cracking, playing the role of Siddharatha. The show was a critical success and won numerous awards. In 2022, Palekar reprised the role Siddharatha for a UK tour and again in 2024 for Australian and US performances.

He is also known for his work in Australian television, predominantly as Vikram in the 2022 American-Australian drama series Shantaram and in the soap opera Neighbours, which he joined the show's regular cast in the role of Haz Devkar from 2023 to 2025.

Early life Palekar was born in 1993 in Mumbai, India. He spent his early life being raised by his mother, with whom he later moved to Hong Kong. Palekar's maternal grand-father was a captain in the Merchant Navy of India. His paternal grand-father was a working man from Mumbai. During his Year 10 school year in Hong Kong, his mother encouraged him to audition for a school play. The experience helped Palekar discover that he wanted to be an actor. During this time he appeared in various NIDA produced theatre shows. He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Acting). Palekar later applied for Australian citizenship which as of 2023, had not been granted. Sachin Joab also appeared in the show and it explored contemporary attitudes on religion, in particular Islam. It was produced by "The Corinthian Food Store", a Sydney based acting collective which Palekar joined.

In August and September 2018, Palekar played Oliver in the Griffin Theatre Company show The Almighty Sometimes, alongside established actors Hannah Waterman, Penny Cook and Brenna Harding. In January 2019, Palekar played Siddharatha (Sid) in the theatre show Counting and Cracking which was produced by the Belvoir theatre company. The play tells the story of four generations of the one Sri Lankan family. He then had the minor role of Billy in Sydney Theatre Company's The Real Thing. Palekar then played Ray Dooley, in the company's production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Palekar has since stated it was his favourite theatre project that he had participated in. Despite this, Palekar played Drew Tweedy-Bell in the 2021 film The Greenhouse, a role he had actually filmed in 2017. Palekar had auditioned for the role via Zoom during his seven weeks quarantining. It also played at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre during the Birmingham 2022 Festival. In November, he played Ferdinand in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Tempest. Also in 2022, Palekar gained his first regular television role playing Vikram in Apple TV+'s drama series Shantaram. The show was cancelled by Apple after just one season.

In 2023, Palekar joined the cast of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, playing the regular role of Haz Devkar. He was hired during the time Neighbours was being rebooted by Amazon Freevee. The character works in hospitality managing a café, which Palekar thought was ironic given his previous job roles in the sector outside of his acting career. He reprised his Siddharatha role in Counting and Cracking from June to July 2024 at Belvoir and again during September 2024 at the NYU Skirball in New York City.

In 2025, Palekar played Rohan Khatri in the second series of Australian-British comedy-drama, Return to Paradise. Palekar also reprised his Neighbours role as Haz for the show's final episodes that year.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2017 Picking Up Felippe Short film 2017 Cleverman Advisor #2 / Khan Guest role 2017 Growing Up Gracefully Ex-boyfriend Guest role 2018 Granny Const. Jackson Guest role 2018 Inadequate Dirk Guest role 2020 Gooddog Shem Guest role 2020 Among Men Michael Short film 2020 Liberty Street Trent Guest role 2020 Colour Blind Shiv Guest role 2021 The Greenhouse Drew Tweedy-Bell Film role 2022 Shantaram Vikram Regular role 2023–2025 Neighbours Haz Devkar Regular role 2025 Return to Paradise Rohan Khatri Guest role Sources: