Nagarjuna (actor)

Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao (born 29 August 1959), known mononymously as Nagarjuna, is an Indian actor, film producer, television presenter, and entrepreneur. Nagarjuna has acted predominantly in Telugu cinema, along with a few Hindi and Tamil films. He received two National Film Awards namely, for Ninne Pelladata (1996), which he produced won the Best Feature Film in Telugu and a Special Mention as actor for Annamayya (1997); nine state Nandi Awards, and three Filmfare Awards South.

In 1989, he starred in the Mani Ratnam-directed romantic drama film Geetanjali, which won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film. In the same year, he appeared in the commercially successful Siva, an action film directed by Ram Gopal Varma; featured at the 13th IFFI' 90. Nagarjuna made his Bollywood debut with the 1990 Hindi remake of Shiva. Known by his works in biographical films, he played 15th-century composer Annamacharya in Annamayya (1997), Yavakri (the son of the ascetic Bharadvaja) in Agni Varsha (2002), Major Padmapani Acharya in the war film LOC: Kargil (2003), 17th-century composer Kancherla Gopanna in Sri Ramadasu (2006), Suddala Hanmanthu in Rajanna (2011), Sai Baba of Shirdi in Shirdi Sai (2012), Chandaludu in Jagadguru Adi Shankara (2013), and Hathiram Bhavaji in Om Namo Venkatesaya (2017).

Nagarjuna has largely starred in action films, establishing himself as an action star with works such as Aakhari Poratam (1988), Vicky Daada (1989), Siva (1989), Neti Siddhartha (1990), Chaitanya (1991), Nirnayam (1991), Antham (1992), Killer (1992), Khuda Gawah (1992), Rakshana (1993), Hello Brother (1994), Govinda Govinda (1994), Criminal (1994), Ratchagan (1997), Azad (2000), Sivamani (2003), Mass (2004), Super (2005), Don (2007), Gaganam (2011), Wild Dog (2021), The Ghost (2022), and Naa Saami Ranga (2024).

In 2013, he represented the Cinema of South India at the Delhi Film Festival's 100 Years of Indian Cinema's celebration, alongside Ramesh Sippy and Vishal Bhardwaj from Bollywood. In 1995, he ventured into film production, with a production unit operating in Seychelles, and was a co-director of an Emmy Award-winning film animation company called Heart Animation. Nagarjuna is the co-owner of the production company Annapurna Studios. He is also the president of the non-profit film school Annapurna International School of Film and Media based in Hyderabad.