Makarand Deshpande is an Indian actor, writer, and well-known director. He was born on 6 March 1966 in Dahanu, Maharashtra, India. Makarand works in various languages like Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. He is mainly known for his theatre performances.

During his college days, he started writing plays for intercollegiate competitions. He started his acting career in 1988 by playing the role of Baba in the Bollywood film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.

Apart from Bollywood, Makarand has also acted in many other language films like Dandupalya (Kannada, 2012), Jalsa (Telugu, 2008), No. 66 Madhura Bus (Malayalam, 2012), Rita (Marathi, 2009), etc.

In 1990, Makarand Deshpande started working as a theatre artist at Prithvi Theatre and did numerous plays. Later, he met with the actor Kay Kay Menon and they together started a theatre, Ansh Theatre Group in 1993.

He then made his production debut with the full-length play Dream Man. In his theatre, Makarand Deshpande wrote, directed, and produced numerous famous plays like Sir Sir Sarla (2006), Karodo Mein Ek (2008), Miss Beautiful (2009), Joke (2009), Dev Vanar, Vasant Ka Teera Youvan, etc.

He has also written and directed some films like Danav (2003), Hanan (2004), Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu (2010), Sona Spa (2013), and Saturday Sunday (2014). In 2011, he was one of the judges of the Marathi reality TV show Marathi Paul Padate Pudhe.

Makarand Deshpande Belongs to a middle-class Hindu family. Initially, Makarand got engaged to his long-time girlfriend the actress Sonali Kulkarni, but the duo broke their engagement in 2006. In 2016, he got married to writer Nivedita Pohankar after being in a relationship for a few years.