Prakash Raj

Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965 ) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician.

Known for his works in Telugu, Tamil, English, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi-language films, he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards.

Apart from his mother tongue Kannada, Raj's fluency in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, Tulu and Marathi has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.

After working in stage shows and television in Kannada for a few years, Raj ventured into films.

Prakash Raj was born in Bangalore on 26 March 1965 to a Tuluva father and a Kannada mother.

His brother is Prasad Raj, who is also an actor.

He completed schooling at St. Joseph's Indian High School and joined St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore.

Actress Geetha introduced Prakash Raj to prominent Tamil film Director K. Balachander.

Prakash Raj changed his surname from 'Rai' to 'Raj' upon K. Balachander's advice; he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka.

He made his debut in Tamil cinema through Duet (1994), by K. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil.

In remembrance, he named his production company Duet Movies.

A polyglot, he played a variety of roles, most notably as the antagonist and, of late, as a character actor.

Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994.

He starred in many Malayalam films in 1996: The Prince, Indraprastham and Oru Yathramozhi, the last of which released in 1997.

Prakash re-entered Kannada films through Nagamandala in 1997, directed by T. S. Nagabharana, which was selected for the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival in 1997.

He was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show Netru, Indru, Naalai.

In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's biopic Iruvar.

The movie dealt with the relationship between politicians M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Prakash, as an actor has won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani Ratnam's Iruvar, a National Film Award – Special Mention for the Telugu film Antahpuram, directed by Krishna Vamsi in 1998 and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan.

He acted in many Telugu films, including Antahpuram (1998), which earned him a National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention.

He played an important role in Venkat Prabhu's Saroja.

They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu who died in 2004 when he was five years old after sustaining injuries from a fall while kite flying.

He also acted in Pandippada, with Dilip in 2005, Thekkekara Superfast in 2003, Keerthichakra in 2006, Amal Neerad's Anwar and Shyamaprasad's sensational movie Elecktra in 2010.

For most of his Mollywood movies, he will render his own voice.

He was also seen in the movie Achayans along with Jayaram.

In 2008, he produced a film titled Abhiyum Naanum and played an important character in it.

He remade the movie in Kannada as Naanu Nanna Kanasu.

The couple divorced in 2009.

Later, he married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010.

As a producer, he has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for Puttakkana Highway, directed by his long-time theatre friend B. Suresha in 2011.

Prakash was also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi during the show's second season.

They have a son, Vedhanth born in 2015.

Prakash Raj's father is a Hindu and his mother a Roman Catholic, but he identifies himself as a non-believer.

Prakash Raj acted in back-to-back stage shows for ₹300 a month in the initial stages of his career, when he joined Kalakshetra, Bengaluru, and he has 2,000 street theatre performances to his credit.

Prakash began his television career with Doordarshan serials such as Bisilu Kudure (Kannada) and Guddada Bhootha (Tulu and Kannada).

He later took up supporting roles in Kannada films such as Ramachari, Ranadheera, Nishkarsha and Lockup Death.

He was noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics.

His breakthrough role came in Harakeya Kuri, directed by K. S. L. Swamy starring Vishnuvardhan, with whom he had acted in other films such as Mithileya Seetheyaru, Muthina Haara and Nishkarsha.

His performance was noticed by Geetha, the lead heroine of the film, who introduced Prakash to her mentor K. Balachander, a Tamil director.

He acted under the screen name "Prakash Rai" in Kannada films and was given the name "Prakash Raj" by K. Balachander for his debut Tamil film Duet, which saw him playing his first major role.