Prabhas

Prabhas was born Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju on 23 October 1979 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu. He was born into a Telugu family to film producer Uppalapati Surya Narayana Raju and Siva Kumari. His family originally hails from Mogalthur, near Bhimavaram in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He is the youngest of three siblings, with an elder brother, Prabodh, and an elder sister, Pragathi. He is also the nephew of veteran Telugu film actor Krishnam Raju, who encouraged him to pursue acting.

Prabhas attended Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai and later DNR High School in Bhimavaram. He completed his intermediate education at Nalanda College in Hyderabad before earning a Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree from Sri Chaitanya College in Hyderabad. In preparation for a screen career, he also received acting training at the Satyanand Film Institute in Visakhapatnam.

Prabhas made his acting debut in 2002 with the Telugu drama Eeswar, followed by the lead role in Raghavendra in 2003. He achieved his initial career breakthrough with the 2004 romantic action drama Varsham, co-starring Trisha Krishnan. The film became a major commercial hit, earning him wide recognition and his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Telugu.

In 2005, he collaborated with director S. S. Rajamouli on Chatrapathi, playing a refugee fighting against exploitation. The film became a major box-office success and had a 100-day theatrical run across dozens of centres. Prabhas continued building his stardom through the late 2000s, starring in the Puri Jagannadh-directed action comedy Bujjigadu (2008) and playing a dual role in the stylish action film Billa (2009) alongside Anushka Shetty.

During the early 2010s, he branched into successful romantic comedies and family dramas, notably Darling (2010) and Mr. Perfect (2011). In 2013, he headlined the action drama Mirchi, which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Telugu films up to that point. His performance in Mirchi earned him the Nandi Award for Best Actor. He made his first brief appearance in Hindi cinema the following year, featuring in a cameo dance number in the film Action Jackson (2014).

In 2015, Prabhas starred in the dual roles of Shivudu (Mahendra Baahubali) and Amarendra Baahubali in S. S. Rajamouli's epic action film Baahubali: The Beginning. Produced on a massive budget, the film grossed over ₹600 crore worldwide and became an unprecedented nationwide sensation, establishing a new commercial model for multilingual Indian cinema. Prabhas reprised his roles in Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which became the first Indian film to gross over ₹1,000 crore globally and accumulated more than ₹1,800 crore across its theatrical run.

Prabhas dedicated five full years entirely to the Baahubali duology, declining other film offers to maintain focus on the project. For the role of Shivudu, he trained down to around 86 to 88 kilograms, while bulking up to 105 kilograms to portray the elder Baahubali. The overwhelming multi-market success of the franchise transformed him into the country's first recognized pan-Indian star and earned him the SIIMA Award for Best Actor. Telugu.

Following Baahubali, Prabhas shifted his focus entirely to high-budget, multilingual event films. In 2019, he starred alongside Shraddha Kapoor in the action thriller Saaho, which had a massive worldwide opening day and performed strongly in its Hindi release, grossing over ₹419 crore globally despite mixed critical responses. His subsequent releases included the period romance Radhe Shyam (2022) and the mythological epic Adipurush (2023), where he portrayed Raghava.

He achieved major commercial resurgence with Prashanth Neel's action drama Salaar: Part 1, Ceasefire (2023), which grossed over ₹700 crore worldwide. In 2024, he played the lead role of Bhairava in Nag Ashwin's epic dystopian science fiction film Kalki 2898 AD, starring alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone. The film grossed over ₹1,100 crore globally, making Prabhas the only Indian actor with multiple films surpassing the ₹1,000 crore mark. His subsequent projects include an extended cameo in Kannappa (2025), the horror-comedy The RajaSaab (2026), the period drama Fauzi, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga's action thriller Spirit.

Despite his wide celebrity status, Prabhas is noted for maintaining a reserved, low-profile personal persona off-screen. Popularly called "Rebel Star" by media and fans, he also earned the nickname "Darling" following his 2010 film of the same name and his routine habit of addressing colleagues and fans with the word. In 2017, he became the first South Indian actor to receive a wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds.

Prabhas has contributed to various charitable and disaster relief initiatives. In 2020, he contributed ₹4 crore toward COVID-19 relief funds, divided between national and state relief authorities, and adopted 1,650 acres of the Khazipally Reserve Forest near Hyderabad to develop an eco-park named after his late father. He has also made multimillion-rupee donations for flood and landslide relief efforts across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala.