Dileep Rao (born Dileep A. Rao, 29 July 1973, Los Angeles, California) is an American actor of Indian (Kannadiga) descent. He grew up in Saudi Arabia, Colorado, and Claremont, California; earned a B.A. from University of California, San Diego and an M.F.A. from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (classmates included Elizabeth Banks and Anna Belknap). He began in regional theatre (Berkeley Rep, South Coast Repertory) before moving to Los Angeles. He also competed on Jeopardy! in 2002, winning $34,400. His filmography includes: Drag Me to Hell (2009) (Alison Lohman, Jordan Ladd); Avatar (2009) (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña); Inception (2010) (Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt); The Dictator (2012) (Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris); Murder of a Cat (2014) (Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi); Beeba Boys (2015) (Pankaj Tripathi, Rajkummar Rao); Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña); Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña). Upcoming: Avatar 4 (2029). TV: Mr. Robot (2017), Touch (2013), Z Nation (2015).