Amitabh Bachchan (born Inquilaab Srivastava; 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. During the 1970s–1980s, he was the most dominant actor in the Indian movie scene; the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry". Beyond the Indian subcontinent, he acquired a large overseas following in markets including Africa (South Africa and Mauritius), the Middle East (especially UAE and Egypt), the United Kingdom, Russia, the Caribbean (Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago), Oceania (Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand) and parts of the United States.