Prakash Raj is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician.
Prakash was born in Bangalore on 26 March 1965 to a Tuluva father and a Kannada mother.
His brother is Prasad Raj, who is also an actor. He completed schooling at St. Joseph’s Indian High School and joined St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore. Actress Geetha introduced Prakash Raj to prominent Tamil film director K. Balachander. Prakash Raj changed his surname from ‘Rai’ to ‘Raj’ upon K. Balachander’s advice; he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka.
Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu who died in 2004. The couple divorced in 2009.
Later, he married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They have a son, Vedhanth born in 2015. Prakash Raj identifies himself as an atheist.
Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi-language films, he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards.
He made his debut in Tamil cinema through Duet (1994), by K. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil.
Prakash, as an actor has won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar, a National Film Award – Special Mention for the Telugu film Antahpuram, in 1998 and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film.
As a producer, he has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for Puttakkana Highway. He played an important role in Venkat Prabhu’s Saroja. In 2008, he produced a film titled Abhiyum Naanum and played an important character in it.
He acted with actor Kamal Haasan in Vasool Raja MBBS, which was a critical and commercial success.
Prakash took on the mantle of director with Naanu Nanna Kanasu, in Kannada in 2010, for which he was the joint producer. He was nominated for the Filmfare South “Best Director” category for his first film.
Prakash became a film producer beginning with the Tamil film Dhaya (2002), in which he starred with actress Meena. It earned him a Special Jury National Award for his performance.
Prakash Raj started his active political movement with the hashtag #justasking on social media after his friend Gauri Lankesh’s assassination incident in September 2017.
