Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni popularly known as Prince Mahesh, is a Telugu movie actor, producer, and a philanthropist. He entered the Telugu movie industry as a child artist and later established himself as a lead actor. Mahesh is the younger son of Telugu superstar, Krishna. He is the owner of G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Mahesh Babu was born on 9th August 1975 in Chennai, Tamilnadu India. He is the fourth child of Telugu Super star Krishna and Indira. Super Star Krishna a popular Actor, Director, editor and producer in Telugu Cinema industry. Ghattamaneni Ramesh Babu is the elder brother of Mahesh Babu. Ramesh Babu is also a Telugu movie actor, who acted in around 15 movies. He later settled as producer starting his own production house, Krishna Productions Private Ltd. Mahesh had three sisters, Padmavathi and Manjula Swaroop are the elder sisters of Mahesh and Priyadarshini, the younger. Ramesh Babu used to look into Mahesh‘s academic progress most of the time as his father Krishna was busy with shootings. Mahesh did his schooling in St. Bede's School in Chennai. During his school time, he was very interested in Cricket and use to go VGP Golden beach regularly to play Cricket. As he grew up in Chennai Mahesh is not good at reading writing Telugu but he can speak Telugu fluently.

Mahesh is married to Namrata Shirodkar his co-star in the movie ‘Vamsee’. After four years of relationship, they got married on 10 February 2005 at the Marriott Hotel, Mumbai, during the shoots of movie ‘Athadu’. Manjula convinced Krishna to accept this proposal. Namrata Shirodkar was a former model, actress and producer in Indian Cinema. She acted in several movies in Tollywood and Bollywood. She won the Femina Miss India in 1993. Mahesh and Namrata had their first baby boy Gautham on 31 August 2006 at Global Hospital, Hyderabad. This boy was premature born, he was in critical condition at the time of his birth. He was stable after a couple of days of serious observation and treatment in the hospital. Gautham debuted in the film industry as child actor in his father’s film 1: Nenokkadine. They welcomed their second child a baby girl named Sitara on 20 July 2012. They preserved her stem cells through stem cell banking method to maintain better immunity level. Telugu actress and filmmaker Vijaya Nirmala is Mahesh’s stepmother and actor Naresh his step brother.

Mahesh’s first movie in Telugu as a child artist was ‘Needa’ in 1979. Mahesh was 4 years old when he shot for this film. This shoot was not planned, when Mahesh Babu visited the shooting locations with his brother Ramesh, Dasari Narayana Rao shot few sequences as part of the narration. Though he did not receive credits for this movie, this stands as Mahesh’s Debut as a child artist in the Telugu movie industry. Later in 1983, he acted in the movie ‘Poratam’ as antagonists’ brother. He continued doing roles as a child artist in the films Sankharavam (1987), Bazaar Rowdy (1988), Mugguru Kodukulu (1988) and Gudachari 117 (1989). Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989) is one of the prominent movies in his career, where Mahesh acted in dual roles. Later in he acted in Bala Chandrudu and Anna Tammudu in 1990 and stopped working for films as his father Krishna wanted him to concentrate on his studies.

In 1999, he debuted in Rajakumarudu in the lead role, which had fetched him the first Nandi Award for Best Male Debut. This movie was successful at the box office by fetching coveted revenues and also brought fame to Mahesh Babu. Since then the name Prince became Mahesh’s favorite nickname for his fans. After this movie he acted in Yuvaraj (2000) and Vamsi (2000) in the following year, which did not do well at the box office. During the shoots of Vamsi, he started dating his co-star Namrata Shirodkar and married to her after four years of relationship.

The next movie was Murari (2001) under the direction of Krishna Vamsi which stood as one of the crucial milestones in his career. This movie was another success at the Box office and fetched him another Nandi in Special Jury category. Mahesh considers Murari as one of the important movies in his career and the role played in it is his favorite. Takkari Donga (2002) and Bobby (2002) which came in the following year performed poorly at the box office.In the year 2003, Mahesh’s two films got released. Gunasekhar's Okkadu (2003) co-starring Bhumika Chawla stood for collecting highest grossing in Telugu movie industry that year. This movie has also won him the Film Fare Award for Best Actor. The next movie was Nijam(2003) under Teja’s direction. Though this movie did not fetch the desired collections, Mahesh was praised for his spectacular performance. This movie has brought him the first Nandi Award for the Best Actor. Later he acted in Nani (2004) produced by Manjula, which was a failure at box office. Whereas it’s Tamil version which was shot with different cast was a commercial success. In the next film ‘Arjun’ directed by Gunashekar, he had received Nandi Special Jury Award.

Later he decided to act in Trivikram’s movie Athadu(2002). Athadu movie script was approved even before the shooting of Nani and Arjun in 2002. Athadu stood in the top of the line of highest grossing of the year. This movie was not only a commercial success for producers and distributors but also brought Mahesh a Nandi Award for Best Actor for the role of the hired assassin. During the shooting of the film Mahesh got married to Namrata Shirodkar his co-star in the movie Vamsee. His next movie Pokiri (2006) in combination with Puri Jangannadh is another commercial success. This was jointly produced by Puri Jagannadh and Manjula with a budget of ₹100 million. Pokiri by the end of its run stood as the highest gross collector of Telugu industry of all time. For this movie, he won second Film Fare Award for Best Actor for the character of an undercover cop. Critics praised his performance in the movie, Y. Sunita Chowdary of 'The Hindu' newspaper opined that "Mahesh's understated performance in Pokiri allows him effortlessly to reclaim the title of a star, overshadowing more questionable recent career choices".

Sainikudu, which came in the same year was a disappointment at the box office. Athidi(2007) came in the following year costarring Amrita Rao making her Telugu Debut, was produced by Mahesh's brother Ramesh Babu. This movie is the first Telugu movie venture of UTV distributers. UTV distributers acquired these rights for ₹187 million. After this movie, Mahesh Babu gave Voice over for Pawan Kalyan's movie Jalsa (2008) under the direction of Trivikram Srinivas. After this, Mahesh took break for seven months and signed up for Khaleja. But his break continued unintentionally for next 2 years, during which his grandmother and Namrata’s parents died. Khaleja received mixed reviews for the film and yet another disappointment at the box office, but performed moderately in the overseas market.

After continues, three disappointments Mahesh collaborated with Sreenu Vaitla for his next film Dookudu. This film was inspired by a German tragic comedy GoodBye by Lenin, 2003. This movie another highest gross collector of the year. The Los Angeles Times reported it as “biggest hit you've never heard of". For his performance in this movie Mahesh received several awards for the best actor category including Nandi, 59th Filmfare Awards South, and 1st South Indian International Movie Awards. Mahesh also faced a legal issue as the film has crossed the ₹ 1 billion mark, Income tax officials raided his residence as he was rumored to be taking 1.2 million for his next film.

His next venture was Businessman under the direction of Puri Jagannath, co-starring Kajal Agarwal. Mahesh has received praises from film critics from his wonderful performance in the film as a coolest Mafia Kin. Once again his performance was reported in ‘The Hindu Newspaper as Y. Sunita Chowdary writes “The film has no frills, no vulgar wastage, and the hero is practical in every frame; you hear only his voice, he looks good, sounds good, he also steals the comedian's job. Mahesh plays it straight”. He was nominated for best actor in 60th Filmfare Awards South and the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremonies. After this film, he was reported to be the second top paid actor in the south India after Super Star Rajinikanth.

Mahesh Babu’s next film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013) is another hit at the box office collecting the highest grossing of the year. Srikanth Addala directed this movie, Mahesh Babu, Daggubati Venkatesh , Anjali and Samantha Ruth Prabhu are the lead actors. This movie stood as the first multi starrer produced in Telugu in the last 25 years. This is a hat-trick hit for Mahesh. Mahesh won the best Telugu actor award at the 61st Film fare Awards South ceremony and the 3rd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremony for is his role in the movie. After this Mahesh gave his second voice over for Sreenu Vaitla’s film Baadhsah, starring NTR Jr.

Mahesh's two movies released in the following year Sukumar's 1: Nenokkadine and Srinu Vaitla’s’ Aagadu. 1: Nenokkadine was a psycho-thriller which was based on a music star who had illusions of the murder of his parents. Kriti Sanon debuted in this film as a female lead. 1: Nenokkadine was produced with 700 million with high expectations but bombed at the box office leaving loss around 270million. However, he received nominations for best actor at the 4th South Indian International Movie Awards. The next movie Aagadu under the direction of Srinu Vaitla is yet another disappointment.

Mahesh’s next movie ‘Sremanthudu’ under the direction of Koratala Siva gave him a recovery. He co-produced this movie under his newly launched banner G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. This was his first venture under his banner. He has shared the profits of the movie in the place of the remuneration. ‘Sreemanthudu’ was commercially very successful. Sethumadhavan N. of Bangalore Mirror stated, "Srimanthudu wouldn't have been as effective if it did not have Mahesh Babu who is at his charming best".

Brahmotsavam is his latest complete family entertainer under the direction of Srikanth Addala. Censor board gave clean ‘U’ certificate for Brahmotsavam considering it of no vulgarity or unnecessary violence. This movie is released on 20th May. This movie released with huge expectations at the box office. Predictions were it would cross the collections of his previous movie Sreemanthudu and Pawan Kalayn’s Gabbar Singh. But it was a disappointment, though it had collected decent revenue in the overseas it did not reach the expectations in the national market. Brhamotsavam is a complete family entertainer, which got a clean ‘U’ from censor.

Coming to his media popularity, Mahesh is known as one of the most popular stars in South India. He is known as the best south Indian brand ambassador bagging more than 10 ads as a celebrity model. Mahesh has also faced controversy, during the promotions of his film Arjun. Mahesh was arrested for the cases of kidnapping and raiding two private CD shops in Warangal. The story behind was, when Mahesh Babu visited Warangal for the promotion of his film Arjun, a group of fans had requested Mahesh Babu into commercial CD shops in the town. As the piracy was ruling the market then, they went into the `Check-In CD Hunt' and `Sony Video Mixing' outlets for the pirated copies in Warangal town. Delighted by the presence of their star Mahesh Babu Fans went into a rage and damaged equipment and furniture accusing of the piracy. The owners have filed case against Mahesh and few others in Matwada and Intejargunj police stations. He had appeared in court on September 20, 2004. This case went on for several months, at last, he and his fellow accused are exonerated.

Mahesh is not just an actor and producer but also a philanthropist. He has given 30% of his annual income to the charities. Mahesh gave the voice for the Telugu version of Javed Akhtar’s poem. He also joined Farhan Akhtar’s Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) campaign in august 2013. In the same year he joined child health foundation as an ambassador. He also donated 2.5 million to CM of Andhra Pradesh for the relief fund of Hudhud cyclone destroyed areas. It has been announced that Mahesh’s has adopted Burrpalem Krishna’s native village in Tenali to address the basic needs. He launched the developments works with 2.14 cr on 8 may 2016. He also adopted a village in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana."My grandmother and father did their bit for the development of the village. Now, I want to take it forward. This is a great opportunity for me," Mahesh said on the occasion.