Pankaj Dheer is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films and TV series. He is known for his role of Karna in TV series Mahabharat and other roles in Chandrakanta, The Great Maratha, Yug and Badho Bahu. He appeared in several Hindi films in small roles, including Sadak, Soldier and Baadshah.

Karna, also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti, and thus a demigod of royal birth. Kunti was granted the boon to bear a child with desired divine qualities from the gods and without much knowledge, Kunti invoked the sun god to confirm it if it was true indeed. Karna was secretly born to an unmarried Kunti in her teenage years, and fearing outrage and backlash from society over her premarital pregnancy, Kunti had no choice but to abandon the newly born Karna adrift in a basket on the Ganges, in the hope that he finds foster parents. The basket is discovered, and Karna is adopted and raised by foster Sūta parents named Radha and Adhiratha Nandana of the charioteer and poet profession working for king Dhritarashtra.