Akkineni Nagarjuna

Akkineni Nagarjuna is an Indian actor and producer working predominantly in Telugu Film Industry. Son of Tollywood stalwart Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna ventured into Bollywood and Tamil Cinema. He owns the prestigious Annapurna Studios which he co-owned along with his brother Akkineni Venkat. Nagarjuna attained stardom with Ram Gopal Varma directorial Shiva. Nagarjuna won several awards for both his acting and producing movies. He won State government Nandi Awards for Annamayya, Santhosham, and Rajanna. 

Akkineni Nagarjuna Early Life

Akkineni Nagarjuna was born to legendary Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Annapurna on 29 August 1959. Nagarjuna has an elder brother named Venkataratnam Akkineni (Venkat), and three elder sisters namely Akkineni Sathyavathi, Naga Susheela, and Saroja. 

Nagarjuna did his schooling at the famous Hyderabad Public School and studied Intermediate in Little Flower Junior College. He completed one year of his Bachelor of Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, and earned his B.S. in Automobile Engineering from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Nagarjuna Career

Nagarjuna started his acting career as a child artist with the film Sudigundalu. Akkineni Nagarjuna made his film debut in lead role with Vikram in 1986. His first biggest hit was Aakhari Poratam in 1988 opposite Sridevi and Suhasini. He gained popularity all over India after Maniratnam’s National Film Award winning film Geethanjali in 1989. 

The 1989 film Shiva, directed by Ram Gopal Varma established him as one of the top actors in Tollywood. The same year Nagarjuna made his Bollywood debut with the remake of Shiva.  directed by popular director Ram Gopal Varma. He subsequently worked for blockbuster hits like Killer, Neti Siddhartha, Nirnayam, Chaithanya, President Gari Pellam, Allari Alludu, Gharana Bullodu, Ninne Pelladata etc. 

Nagarjuna is known for portraying devotees and devotional roles, a trait he inherited from his father. He played the roles of Annamayya (1997), Sriramadasu (2006), Shirdi Sai (2012), and Hathiram Bhavaji. In the 2000s and 2010s, Nagarjuna delivered hit films like Santhosham, Manmadhudu, Mass, Soggede Chinni Nayana and critically acclaimed films like Oopiri. He received several National, State government Nani, and Filmfare awards both for acting and producing. 

Nagarjuna Family

Daggubati Lakshmi, the daughter of legendary producer Rama Naidu, who he married in 1984 is his first wife. He had a son named Naga Chaitanya with her. They got separated in the year 1990. He later married his co-star in films like Shiva and Prema Yuddham, Amala. He had a son named Akhil Akkineni with her. Noted South Indian actress Samantha married Nagarjuna's son, Naga Chaitanya. Actors Sumanth and Sushanth are his nephews.