Jagapathi Babu
Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Rao Chowdary (born 12 February 1962), professionally known as Jagapathi Babu (), is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. In a career spanning 33 years, Babu has appeared in 170 feature films, and has received four Filmfare Awards and seven state Nandi Awards. He has worked with noted directors like S. V. Krishna Reddy, Ram Gopal Varma, Krishna Vamsi, E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Gunasekhar, Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, A. M. Rathnam, K. Raghavendra Rao, Radha Mohan, Mohan Raja, and J. D.  Chakravarthy. Early life. Jagapathi Babu was born on 12 February 1962 in Machilipatnam to veteran producer-director V. B. Rajendra Prasad. He was brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu before making a mark in Telugu cinema. He married Lakshmi and has two daughters. Career. 1989–2013: Lead roles. Babu made his debut in Telugu with the movie "Simha Swapnam" (1989) which was produced by his father and directed by V. Madhusudhan Rao. That same year, he starred in "Adavilo Abhimanyudu". His first commercial success came with "Peddarikam" released in 1992. He had his breakthrough in the form of "Gaayam" directed by  Ram Gopal Varma in the year 1993. In 1994, with the super hit film "Subhalagnam", he reached family audience and also established his star status. He won the Nandi Award for Best Actor in 1996 for his role in the movie "Maavichiguru" directed by S V Krishna Reddy. 1997 saw runway hit films like "Subhakankshalu" and "Pelli Pandiri". In 1998, he won the Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film "Anthahpuram". In 2000, he won the Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the thriller "Manoharam". In 2003–05, he did runway hit films like "Kabaddi Kabaddi", "Athade  Oka Sainyam", "Pedababu" and "Anukokunda Oka Roju". In 2006, he appeared in "Samanyudu" and "Pellaina Kothalo". He received the Nandi Best Supporting Actor Award for the second time in the year 2007 for his role in the film "Lakshyam" in addition to a won Filmfare Award. In 2011, he received the Kala Bhushana Award for his contribution to cinema by TSR Lalitha Kala Parishat. His first Tamil movie was "Madrasi", and in 2012, he appeared as the antagonist in Tamil film "Thaandavam". Subsequently, he played the lead role in "Jai Bolo Telangana", which won five Nandi Awards. In 2012, he  debuted in the Kannada film "Bachchan" as a cop. 2014–present: Supporting roles. Since 2014, Babu took a complete turn-around in his choice of roles, in what he terms a "second-innings." Babu, who until then was a lead actor, decided to play antagonistic and supporting roles to maintain his career graph. The first of which is the Nandamuri Balakrishna-starrer "Legend" (2014), where played an antagonist for the first time. His performance as Jitendra, a ruthless don was praised and also won many accolades. In the same year, he played a negative role opposite Rajinikanth in "Lingaa". In  2015, he played Mahesh Babu's father in "Srimanthudu". In 2016, Babu played a London-based billionaire in Sukumar-directed Nannaku Prematho starring Jr NTR was also appreciated. He played antagonist in "Ism" and "Jaguar". He also played opposite Mohanlal in Malayalam film, "Pulimurugan". In 2017, he played Naga Chaitanya's father in "Rarandoi Veduka Chudham". In 2018, "Rangasthalam," also directed by Sukumar, Babu played an oppressive president of the eponymous village. Grossing more than 2 billion, "Rangasthalam" was the highest grossing Telugu of that year. Alongside this, he played a Bangladeshi-terrorist in "Goodachari", which became a sleeper hit . His role Trivikram Srinivas-directed "Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava" (2018) is termed as one of finest performances of his career. In 2019, His notable works were "Maharshi" along with a crucial role in "Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy".