Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao 

(born 29 August 1959), known mononymously as Nagarjuna, is an

Indian actor, film producer, television presenter, and entrepreneur. Nagarjuna has acted in over
100 films, predominantly in Telugu, along with a few Hindi and Tamil language films. He has
received nine state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and two National Film
Awards namely, for Ninne Pelladata (1996), which he produced won the Best Feature Film in
Telugu and a Special Mention as actor for Annamayya (1997).
In 1989, he starred in the Mani Ratnam-directed romantic drama film Geetanjali, which won
the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The
following year, he acted in Siva, an action drama blockbuster directed by Ram Gopal Varma,
which premiered at the 13th International Film Festival of India.[4] In 1990, he made
his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of Shiva.
He is well known by his works in biographical films, he played 15th-century
composer Annamacharya in Annamayya (1997), Yavakri (the son of the ascetic Bharadvaja)
in Agni Varsha (2002), Major Padmapani Acharya in the war film LOC: Kargil (2003), 17th-
century composer Kancherla Gopanna in Sri Ramadasu (2006), Suddala
Hanmanthu in Rajanna (2011), Sai Baba of Shirdi in Shirdi Sai (2012), Chandaludu in Jagadguru
Adi Shankara (2013), and Hathiram Bhavaji in Om Namo Venkatesaya (2017).[5]
In 2013, he represented the Cinema of South India at the Delhi Film Festival's 100 Years of
Indian Cinema's celebration, alongside Ramesh Sippy and Vishal Bhardwaj from Bollywood.[6] In
1995, he ventured into film production, with a production unit operating in Seychelles, and was a
co-director of an Emmy Award-winning film animation company called Heart Animation.
[7]
 Nagarjuna is the co-owner of the production company Annapurna Studios. He is also the
president of the non-profit film school Annapurna International School of Film and Media based
in Hyderabad.[8][9][10]