Manhattan millionaire hotelier and actor Vikram Chatwal has been named Entrepreneur of the Year at the first South Asia Media Awards in New York.

Chatwal beat four nominees, including a real estate developer and a top TV show host, a statement said Friday.

Chatwal, whose new Dreams boutique hotels project has been a great hit since it opened on 210 West 55th Street in fall 2004, was given the award for his expertise in the world of business, entrepreneurial vision and as a role model for Asian youth.

Others nominated for the award included real estate developer Raj Bhakta, Manny Brar, president of the clothing brand Desiwear, Raju Sethi, president of the Asian Variety Show, and H.R. Shah, a community leader and philanthropist.

Chatwal, son of business mogul Sant Singh Chatwal of Hampshire Hotels and Resorts, has starred in last year's "One Dollar Curry" and will feature in "Ek Ajnabee" opposite Amitabh Bachchan.

In 1999, Chatwal opened The Time, a full service boutique in the heart of Times Square in Manhattan.

The following year, he started the Chateau in Montreal, which received the City Tourism award for Best Boutique Conversion in 2000, and then acquired Bush Hall, a sprawling 300-year-old country estate located outside London that once belonged to Beatrix Potter and Henry VIII.

Chatwal is to wed Delhi socialite Priya Sachdev early next year.