Mahesh Babu

Mahesh Babu was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to prominent Telugu Cinema actor Ghatamaneni Siva Rama Krishna and Smt. Indira Devi on 9 August 1975. He is the younger brother of actor turned producer Ramesh Babu Ghattamaneni.He also has two elder sisters, Padmavathi and actress-producer Manjula Ghattamaneni and one younger sister Priyadarshini. All siblings have the rare honour of having acted in films as child artistes. Mahesh’s childhood was spent mostly in Madras under the care of his paternal grandmother Smt. Durgamma and the rest of his family. As his father had to spend considerable amount of time away from home working, his elder brother Ramesh Babu had a significant role in his upbringing and he enjoys a great relationship with him. Growing up in a big family, Mahesh shares an equally warm relationship with all his sisters and his grand mother. All of them in the family fondly call him "Naani".
His father made sure all the children spent sufficient time with him on location and on his sets, especially during holidays. Mahesh many times said that this was where his interest for acting began.The film sets were a second playground and he did not hesitate to face the camera when asked to do a small role in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa at the age of four. Mahesh studied at St. Bede‘s School in Chennai while continuing to attend his dad’s filming during holidays. Few of his schoolmates at St.Bede's were Surya (Tamil film actor) and Vishnuvardhan (Tamil film director). Mahesh obtained an Honours Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.Mahesh Babu acted in seven of his father's films as a child acto

Mahesh dated Bollywood actress and former Femina Miss India Namrata Shirodkar for five years.[25] She was his co-star in the movie Vamsi. They got married on 10 February 2005 in Mumbai.[26] They have two children, son Gautam Krishna (b. 31 August 2006) and daughter Sitara (b. 20 July 2012)

In 2005, Mahesh married Namrata Shirodkar after being in a relationship with her for almost 5 years. The year also saw the first release after his marriage and Trivikram Srinivas’s second directorial venture, Athadu.He was paired alongside with Trisha Krishnan. Mahesh once again achieved critical acclaim for his performance in the movie and also earned himself the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the second time. Pokiri, produced jointly by his sister Manjula Ghattamaneni and Vaishno Academy and directed by Puri Jagannadh was the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year. The movie saw him paired alongside with Ileana D'Cruz. Pokiri was a success in AP as well as other states and overseas. The film completed 100 days in as many as 200 centres in Andhra Pradesh and completed silver jubilee in a record 63 centres. Mahesh earned his second Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for this movie.
The year also saw Mahesh working again with Director Gunasekhar and actress Trisha Krishnan for the movie Sainikudu. In 2007, for his next venture Mahesh embraced corporate film making in Telugu Film Industry. He collaborated with UTV and with young director Surender Reddy for Athidi which made him the first corporate hero in Telugu Film Industry. He was paired along side Amrita Rao.After Athidi, Mahesh devoted more time to family matters with a new toddler to spend time with, supporting and helping Namrata cope with her father’s illness and then his death, followed by Namrata’s mother’s bout with cancer and her death.In 2008, Mahesh lent his voice for the film Jalsa, directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas.In 2009 Mahesh started working on a movie with Trivikram Srinivas as director.
In 2010, after a 3-year long hiatus Mahesh returned to the silver screen with the movie Khaaleja. Directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas, the movie languished in development hell due to production problems and the telangana agitations. Upon release, the movie received mixed reviews and also became one of the highest grossing Telugu films overseas. The year also saw Mahesh embracing social networking site Twitter to interact with his fans.
2011–present
In 2011, Mahesh's film Dookudu co–starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu was released. Directed by Srinu Vaitla and was produced by 14 Reels Entertainment, it broke many records in the Telugu film industry upon release by taking the largest worldwide opening, earning 21.2 crores in 3 days,and becoming the highest grossing Telugu film overseas by earning 1.5 million dollars in the first weekend.The film set a box office record for the Telugu film industry by collecting a gross of more than 100 crore and completed a successful run in 312 centres after 50 days CNN-IBN for the year 2011, declared him as the Actor of the Year and Dookudu as the Hit of the Year in a survey conducted for Telugu films. He also won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for his performance in the movie. He then co–starred with Kajal Aggarwal in the movie Business Man. The film was directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by RR Movie Makers, releasing worldwide on 13 January 2012. Similar to his previous release, it took the largest worldwide opening by collecting 18.73 crores on the first day and 62.94 crores worldwide in the first week. For the first time in his career, Mahesh along with the director Puri Jagannadh lent his vocals for a song in the project. According to certain reports, Mahesh emerged as the highest paid actor in South India after Rajnikanth. He was listed 5th in the Times survey of the 50 Most Desirable Men in India, becoming the only South Indian to have been done so.
His next venture is a multi–starrer film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu under the direction of Srikanth Addala. Being produced by Dil Raju, the film also stars Daggubati Venkatesh in a leading role. The film was officially launched on 6 October 2011 and the filming began on 18 January 2012. This film casts Samantha opposite him, for the second time. He has also signed up for a role in a film under the direction of Sukumar. The film produced by 14 Reels Entertainment has debutant Kriti Sanon acting opposite him and the film was launched on 12 February 2012. He also hired Hollywood trainer Mike Ryan as his personal trainer.