Venkatesh

The Telugu Superstar Venkatesh was born on 13th December, 1960 in Naidu Family in Chennai. Son to the well known film producer and former MP D. Rama Naidu and Rajeshwari, Venkatesh started his career long back in 1971 as an child artist in the film 'Prem Nagar'. He got his first break as a lead in 1986 release 'Kaliyuga Pandavulu' which also grabbed him his first Nandi award as the best debut actor male.

The actor has two siblings of which one elder brother Suresh Babu Daggubati who is an industry insider and younger sister Lakshmi. Venkatesh completed his schooling at Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai. Later completed his graduation in Commerce from Loyolo College, Chennai adjoining with an MBA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA. Initially Venkatesh wanted to persue his career in production but ended up choosing acting.

In his early days, Venkatesh acted in South Indian film like 'Swarnakamala' which was showcased in 1989 International Film Festival of India. The success was also clubbed with second Nandi award for him as the best male actor. Later the star also acted in South films like 'Prema', 'Bobbili Raja' which were not only a hit at the box-office but also grabbed apprecition for the star with several awards. He became a trend-setter as well by acting in Ram Gopal Varma's South Indian flick 'Kshana Kshanam' based on the road-movie concept alongside Sridevi which was an experiment. In 1991 Venkatesh came up with 'Chanti' in South which was later re-made as 'Anari' in Hindi also marked the star's debut in Bollywood alongside Karisma Kapoor. The actor continued to appear in Bollywood with 'Taqdeerwala' starring Raveena Tandon as the lead pair.

The star then turned into a superstar with a huge list of successful films in South, marking his success. But, Telugu flick 'Kalisundam Raa' released in 2000 turned the table for him, as the film won National award for the best feature film in Telugu.

The actor started a production house called 'Suresh Production' along with his brother Suresh Babu. The South Indian films produced under this banner starring him went on to become successful and not only that, this turned the production house to be one among the top ranking production houses in India.

The actor is still working in films and proves to be a tough competitor even for the youngsters. Even his Nephew actor Rana Daggubati who is a heart throb in south film industry faces tough from uncle Venkatesh.