Biography

Mohanlal Vishwanathan Nair (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal  is an internationally acclaimed Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. A four-time National Award winner, he has won two Best Actor Awards, one Special Jury Award, oneAward for Best Film (as producer) and six Best Actor Kerala state awards, the most times by any actor. In 2001 the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the Territorial Army which was the first instance in the history of Indian Cinema of an actor being conferred an Army rank. In 2010, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit bestowed an honorary doctorate upon him

Mohanlal was born in Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, to Vishwanathan Nair, a lawyer and government employee and Santhakumari. The family later shifted to Mudavanmugal in Thiruvananthapuram, which was the house of his mother. He attended the Mudavanmukal LP school and later enrolled in the Model School, Thiruvananthapuram. An average student at school, he was drawn in to the world of arts; he used to participate in school-plays. In the sixth grade, the young Mohanlal was chosen the best actor in his school, an award that was usually bagged by tenth graders.He attended Mahatma Gandhi College in Thiruvananthapuram for his bachelor's degree. He continued his association with acting and won numerous best actor awards.
Mohanlal, got entry into movies when his friends opened up a film company called Bharath Cine Group and started making a film 'Thiranottam', in which Mohanlal was given a comic role to enact. Unfortunately, due to certain reasons this film was never released. As such, the first meaningful break into movies came into 1980s for Mohanlal. There was a production house that was looking for fresh faces. Mohanlal's friends applied for this post on his behalf, which got him selected.