Patel studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and later attended the University of Texas at Austin in United States, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in Business in 2000.

Patel started his career as an assistant director and worked with Vikram Bhatt in the making of his films, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (2002), Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Raaz (2002) and Footpath (2003). He made his acting debut with the film Inteha directed by Vikram Bhatt. In 2004, he appeared alongside Mallika Sherawat and Emraan Hashmi in the thriller Murder, a Bollywood inspiration of Unfaithful. The film was his first commercial success.

In 2005, Patel starred in Soni Razdan’s thriller Nazar and Khalid Mohammed’s multi-starrer Silsilay. Both the films were unsuccessful at the box office. In 2006, he also played leading roles in Dil Diya Hai, Banaras and Fight Club. In 2007, he starred in the comedy Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana alongside Mahima Chaudhary and Rekha. His next film Toss was released in 2009.

He will be marking his digital debut with Ullu App’s upcoming web-series titled Peshawar, which is based on 2014 Peshawar school massacre. He will playing the role of terrorist Abu Shamil, who masterminded the attacks and managed to brainwash the rest of his crew into perpetrating this heinous crime.