Mahesh Babu
Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Ghattamaneni on 9 August 1975) is an Indian film actor known for his work predominantly in Telugu cinema. Born to actor Krishna in the Ghattamaneni family, Mahesh Babu faced the camera at the age of four as a child artist in 1979's Needa. His first leading role was in the film Rajakumarudu, which was released in August 1999. He played a young Kabaddi player in the 2003 blockbuster film Okkadu, one of the biggest Telugu grossers of the time. The film was subsequently remade into various Indian languages. He received international recognition with the 2005 film Athadu, another high grosser in Telugu cinema. The film was dubbed into Polish for a release in Poland as Poszukiwany, becoming the first Telugu film released in Poland, and became a boxoffice hit. In 2006 he starred in Pokiri, premiered at the 7th IIFA Awards held in Dubai. The blockbuster film was subsequently remade into Tamil, Hindi and Kannada. In 2011, he starred in Dookudu, which had the largest worldwide opening for a Telugu film. The film was released to seventy-nine screens in the United States. In the rest of north, east and west India, it opened up in 21 cities. It became the first Telugu film to reach a gross of more than 1 billion at the time, excluding the dubbed versions. Subsequently, the Los Angeles Times quoted it as "the biggest hit you've never heard of". In 2014, he starred in the psychological thriller, 1: Nenokkadine which reached $1.225 million in its first weekend, and remained one of the best openings ever for an Indian film in the United States. He was then starred in Aagadu, which became the highest opening weekend Indian film in U.S. box office beating Bollywood films like Krrish 3 and Kick. He has won seven state Nandi Awards, four Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Awards, two CineMAA Awards and two South Indian International Movie Awards. In addition to the films, he also endorses several brands in Andhra Pradesh and South India. He was also the national brand ambassador for Thums Up. He was voted as the most desirable man in the Times Most Desirable Men 2013 online polls conducted by the Indiatimes Group. He was ranked 31st on Celebrity 100 list by Forbes India in 2012, and 54th in 2013 and was ranked 30th in 2014.