Kumar Pallana (born in central India, 1919) is an Indian character actor and vaudevillian entertainer best known for his work with director Wes Anderson in four films: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. While he had a small supporting role in Bottle Rocket as a talkative member of the robbery crew, Pallana took on larger roles in the subsequent films. Pallana also had a scene-stealing role as a feisty janitor in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, and appeared in the video "Clock in Now" by The Deathray Davies. He is also the subject of a 2006 documentary 5 minutes with Kumar.

Prior to his more recent cinematic success, he was a performer who shared a stage with the Rat Pack and performed on the Mickey Mouse Club. His act included plate spinning and juggling, a stunt which makes a cameo in extra bonus footage of both The Terminal and The Royal Tenenbaums DVDs.

Before getting involved with Anderson, Pallana was the proprietor of a local coffee shop in Dallas called The Cosmic Cafe, a frequent hangout for director Anderson and co-writer/star Owen Wilson. Anderson recalled Pallana had many interesting stories to tell him since he was a kid.

He currently resides in Oakland, California and is not planning on making any more movies. His son Dipak Pallana also acts frequently, often sharing the screen with his father in Anderson's films.

Former proprietor of the Cosmic Cup coffee shop (now called Cosmic Cafe) at 2912 Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas, Texas, where director Wes Anderson used to hang out.

Father of Dipak Pallana.

This elderly, diminutive Indian man was "discovered" by director Wes Anderson and has become a popular character actor by the age of 80.

Is the father of the very different-looking Dipak Pallana, who often co-stars with his father in Wes Anderson's films (although to this date never in the same scene).