# Varun Tej

Konidela Sai Varun Tej, better known as Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut in 2014 with Mukunda. He received praise for featuring in Krish's critically acclaimed war film Kanche (2015). He established himself as a leading actor with the romantic drama Fidaa (2017), a major critical and commercial success. He has since starred in films including Tholi Prema (2018), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019), F2 (2019) and F3 (2022). He is married to his co-actress Lavanya Tripathi.

## Early life and family

Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. He is a nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins. He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.

## Career

Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film Hands Up when he was ten years old. He made his adult debut with Mukunda, starring opposite Pooja Hegde. The film earned positive reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film Kanche, starring opposite Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics. Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with The Times of India praising his "capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety". His second release that year Loafer, was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing Mister.
The later half of 2017 saw the release of Fidaa, where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film was commercially successful grossing over ₹90 crore at the box office. His 2018 release Tholi Prema was also a box office success and Tej's performance as an impulsive young man was widely appreciated. His next film that year was space thriller Antariksham 9000 KMPH, directed by Sankalp Reddy.
In 2019, Tej's first release was F2: Fun and Frustration which is a multistarrer with Venkatesh, Tamannaah and Mehreen Pirzada are also a part of this movie which is huge blockbuster. After F2, he dubbed in Telugu for Aladdin's role in the film Aladdin. He later starred in Gaddalakonda Ganesh, a remake of Tamil film Jigarthanda, directed by Harish Shankar which was a failure at the box office.
As of January 2020, Tej has two films under production, Ghani, and F2's sequel F3. Tej next played the role of a boxer, in Ghani (2022) directed by Kiran Korrapati. Following the film's release, Tej acknowledged the reviews and apologised, accepting the film's failure at the box office through a note on social media.

## Personal life

Tej met actress Lavanya Tripathi, on the sets of their film Mister (2017) and eventually started dating her. They went onto work together in Antariksham 9000 KMPH in 2018. The couple got engaged on 8 June 2023 in Hyderabad. The couple got married on 1 November 2023 in Tuscany, Italy in a traditional ceremony.

## Media image

Tej stood at the 27th place on Forbes India's most influential stars on Instagram in South cinema for the year 2021. In the Hyderabad Times Most Desirable Men list, Tej was place 7th in 2019 and 17th in 2020. In Rediff.com's "Top Telugu Actors" list, Tej was placed 5th in 2012.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2000 | Hands Up | Varun | Child actor |
| 2014 | Mukunda | Mukunda | Debut as a lead |
| 2015 | Kanche | Dhupati Hari Babu | |
| 2015 | Loafer | Raja Murali | |
| 2017 | Mister | Pichchayya Naidu / Chai | |
| 2017 | Fidaa | Varun | |
| 2018 | Tholi Prema | Aditya Sekhar | |
| 2018 | Antariksham 9000 KMPH | Dev | |
| 2019 | F2: Fun and Frustration | Varun Yadav | |
| 2019 | Aladdin | Aladdin (voice) | Telugu dubbed version |
| 2019 | Gaddalakonda Ganesh | Gaddalakonda Ganesh "Gani" | |
| 2022 | Ghani | Ghani | |
| 2022 | F3: Fun and Frustration | Varun Yadav | |
| 2023 | Gandeevadhari Arjuna | Arjun Varma | |
| 2024 | Operation Valentine | Arjun Dev alias "Rudra" | Also shot in Hindi |
| 2024 | Matka | "Matka" Vasu | |

### Television

| Year | Shows | Role | Network | Notes |
| 2018 | Nanna Koochi | Narrator | ZEE5 | |
| 2019 | Bigg Boss 3 | Himself | Star Maa | Guest appearance |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
| 2015 | South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor – Telugu | Kanche | Nominated |
| 2017 | Zee Telugu Golden Awards | Entertainer Of The Year (Male) | Fidaa | Nominated |
| 2018 | Zee Cine Awards Telugu | Best Film Actor | Tholi Prema | Nominated |
| 2019 | South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor – Telugu | Gaddalakonda Ganesh | Nominated |