Shiva Rajkumar

Shiva Rajkumar (born Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy; 12 July 1962)^[2] is an Indian actor, film producer and television presenter who predominantly works in Kannada cinema.^[3] In a career spanning over three decades, he has worked in over 125 films in Kannada and has received several awards, including four Karnataka State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South and six South Indian International Movie Awards.^[4]

Shiva Rajkumar is the eldest son of matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar. He is also fondly known as Shivanna by his fans.^[5][6] He made his onscreen debut with Sri Srinivasa Kalyana (1974) as a child artiste. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Shiva Rajkumar began his film career at the age of 24 by starring in the leading role in his mother‘s production Anand (1986), which was a critical and commercial success. His performance in Anand which fetched him the Cinema Express Award for Best Actor. He then followed it up with Ratha Sapthami (1986) and Manamecchida Hudugi (1987), both of which were commercially successful, earning him the nickname of Hat-trick Hero, coined by the media and his fans.^[7] He then appeared in several successful films in the late 1980s with the romantic-thriller film Samyuktha (1988), the comedy-thriller Inspector Vikram (1988), the action-drama film Ranaranga (1988) and the comedy Aasegobba Meesegobba (1988).^[8]