Neil was born on 15 January 1982 in Bombay, Maharashtra.His father is Bollywood playback singer Nitin Mukesh, son of veteran singer Mukesh. His paternal grandmother was a Gujarati Shrimali Brahmin while his paternal grandfather was a Mathur Kayastha from Delhi. He was named by Lata Mangeshkar after the American astronaut Neil Armstrong. As a child, he appeared in Vijay (1988) and Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharnii (1989) as the younger versions of Rishi Kapoor and Govinda respectively.
Neil was educated at Brown Lawns H kindergarten and HR College in Mumbai, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce at his father’s insistence. He then decided to pursue a career in acting, despite being born into a family of singers. In an interview with The Times of India, the actor said “singing is my hobby, but acting is my passion. A passion that even my grand-dad harboured. So, while my father continued his legacy and became a singer, I pursued his other passion. I am living his dream”. Neil trained at a four-month workshop at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute, and received training from actor Anupam Kher.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Vijay | Young Vikram | |
| 1989 | Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharnii | Young Ravi Verma | |
| 2007 | Johnny Gaddaar | Vikram / Johnny G | Nominated – Filmfare Best Male Debut Award |
| 2009 | Aa Dekhen Zara | Ray Acharya | |
| New York | Omar | Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor | |
| Jail | Parag Dixit | ||
| 2010 | Lafangey Parindey | Nandan Kamthekar | |
| Tera Kya Hoga Johnny | Parvez | ||
| 2011 | 7 Khoon Maaf | Major Edwin Rodriques | |
| 2012 | Players | Spider | |
| 2013 | David | David / Iqbal | |
| 3G | Sam | ||
| Shortcut Romeo | Sooraj | ||
| 2014 | Kaththi | Chirag | Tamil filmSIIMA Award for Actor in a Negative Role – Tamil |
| 2015 | Prem Ratan Dhan Payo | Yuvraj Ajay Singh | |
| 2016 | Wazir | Wazir | |
| 2017 | Indu Sarkar | Sanjay Gandhi | [56] |
| Golmaal Again | Nikhil | ||
| 2018 | Ishqeria | Raghav | |
| Dassehra | Rudra Pratap Singh | ||
| Kavacham | Vikramaditya | Telugu film | |
| 2019 | Saaho | Jai / Ashok | Trilingual film (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) |
| Bypass Road | Vikram Kapoor | Also producer |
