Daggubati Venkatesh

Daggubati Venkatesh is an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In a career spanning 30 years, he starred in 72 feature films. He has played a variety of roles in Telugu cinema and a few Bollywood films. He has received seven state Nandi Awards, and five Filmfare Awards for best acting.
Along with his brother Daggubati Suresh Babu, Venkatesh is the co-owner of Suresh Productions, one of the largest film production companies in India. Venkatesh has starred in several of his films under this production. In a career spanning three decades, he had acted in many commercially successful films like Kaliyuga Pandavulu, Prema, Bobbili Raja, Shatruvu, Coolie No.1, Chanti, Sundarakanda, Kondapalli Raja, Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya, Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu, Pavitra Bandham, Suryavamsam, Ganesh, Premante Idera, Raja, Kalisundam Raa, Nuvvu Naaku Nachav, Vasu, Malliswari, Gharshana, Sankranthi, Lakshmi, Tulasi, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Drushyam, Gopala Gopala. He has the highest number of Nandi awards for best actor, he has won 5 of them. Apart from films, he is the Captain of Telugu Warriors representing Tollywood in Celebrity Cricket League.

Venkatesh was born to prolific film producer and former MP, Ramanaidu Daggubati and Rajeshwari in Karamchedu village of Prakasam District. He has an elder brother Suresh Babu Daggubati who runs Suresh Productions, and a younger sister, Lakshmi. Venkatesh did his schooling in Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai. He graduated with a Bachelors in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai and got his MBA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA. After his return to India, he wanted to get into film production but instead, became an actor in Telugu films.

He has acted as child artist in the 1971 film Prem Nagar. He debuted in Kaliyuga Pandavulu in the year 1986, which got him a Nandi Award for best male debut actor. At an early phase in his career, Venkatesh acted in Swarnakamalam, directed by K Viswanath, which was showcased at the 1989 International Film Festival of India, the film fetched him his second Nandi Award for his performance. In 1988, He then appeared in the successful musical romance film Prema, which fetched him a Nandi Award for best acting & the same year another blockbuster box office hit film Brahma Putrudu & this film he won a Filmfare Award for best actor. Bobbili Raja, with Divya Bharti, was a box office hit.

Venkatesh then appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's road movie Kshana Kshanam alongside Sri Devi, which was a trend-setter and became a box office hit, in its second run. In 1991, Chanti, a family drama, which was re-made in Hindi as Anari, alongside Karishma Kapoor marking Venkatesh's Bollywood debut. Both the versions were box office hits. In the same year, he was starred in critically acclaimed films like Shatruvu and Surya IPS. He was then starred in Chinarayudu, another successful melodrama. In 1995, He appeared in another Bollywood flick Taqdeerwala alongside Raveena Tandon. In 1996, he starred in Dharma Chakram and received another Nandi Award and Filmfare Award, for his performance. . Venkatesh's association with popular actress Soundarya registered critical and commercial successes owing to the chemistry and performance of both the actors.

He then appeared in several successful romantic family drama's like Preminchukundam Raa (1997), Suryavamsam (1998), which was later remade in Hindi with the same title, with Amitabh Bachhan in the lead role. He was then starred in the critically acclaimed thriller, Ganesh (1998), which fetched him another Nandi Award and Filmfare Award for his performance. He then appeared in blockbuster romance film's like Premante Idera alongside Preity Zinta (1998), Raja (1999) and Kalisundam Raa (2000), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year. In the same year Jayam Manade Raa fetched him another Filmfare Award for best acting. He then ventured into blockbuster romantic comedy's such as Prematho Raa (2001), Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), Malliswari (2004) alongside Katrina Kaif. He then appeared in the action blockbuster Gharshana (2005). The family dramas Sankranthi (2005), Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule (2007), and the cross over cinema Chintakayala Ravi (2008) were runaway hits.

On 24 April 2010, he signed with Manappuram General Finance and Leasing Ltd as their brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh.