Varun Tej

Konidela Sai Varun Tej, better known as Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut in 2014 with ''Mukunda''. He received praise for featuring in Krish's critically acclaimed war film ''Kanche'' (2015). He established himself as a leading actor with the romantic drama ''Fidaa'' (2017), a major critical and commercial success. He has since starred in films including '' Tholi Prema'' (2018), '' Gaddalakonda Ganesh'' (2019), '' F2'' (2019) and '' F3'' (2022). He is married to his co-actress Lavanya Tripathi.

Early life and family

Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. He is a nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins. He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.

Career

Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film '' Hands Up'' when he was ten years old. He made his adult debut with ''Mukunda'', starring opposite Pooja Hegde. The film earned positive reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film ''Kanche'', starring opposite Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics. Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with ''The Times of India'' praising his "capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety". His second release that year '' Loafer'', was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing ''Mister.''

The later half of 2017 saw the release of ''Fidaa'', where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film was commercially successful grossing over 90 crore at the box office. His 2018 release '' Tholi Prema'' was also a box office success and Tej's performance as an impulsive young man was widely appreciated. His next film that year was space thriller '' Antariksham 9000 KMPH'', directed by Sankalp Reddy.

In 2019, Tej's first release was '' F2: Fun and Frustration'' which is a multistarrer with Venkatesh, Tamannaah and Mehreen Pirzada are also a part of this movie which is huge blockbuster. After ''F2'', he dubbed in Telugu for Aladdin's role in the film ''Aladdin.'' He later starred in '' Gaddalakonda Ganesh,'' a remake of Tamil film '' Jigarthanda'', directed by Harish Shankar which was a failure at the box office.

As of January 2020, Tej has two films under production, '' Ghani'', and F2's sequel '' F3.'' Tej next played the role of a boxer, in '' Ghani'' (2022) directed by Kiran Korrapati. Following the film's release, Tej acknowledged the reviews and apologised, accepting the film's failure at the box office through a note on social media.

Personal life

Tej met actress Lavanya Tripathi, on the sets of their film ''Mister'' (2017) and eventually started dating her. They went onto work together in '' Antariksham 9000 KMPH'' in 2018. The couple got engaged on 8
June 2023 in Hyderabad. The couple got married on 1 November 2023 in Tuscany, Italy in a traditional ceremony.

Media image

Tej stood at the 27th place on ''Forbes Indias most influential stars on Instagram in South cinema for the year 2021. In the Hyderabad Times Most Desirable Men list, Tej was place 7th in 2019 and 17th in 2020. In ''Rediff.com''s "Top Telugu Actors" list, Tej was placed 5th in 2012.

Filmography

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Living people
Indian male film actors
Varun Tej
Male actors from Hyderabad, India
Male actors in Telugu cinema
21st-century Indian male actors
1990 births
Indian male voice actors
Telugu male actors