Naga Chaitanya

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Naga Chaitanya (born Akkineni Naga Chaitanya, 23 November 1986) is an Indian actor and entrepreneur who works mainly in Telugu cinema. A member of the Akkineni–Daggubati film family and the son of Nagarjuna, he made his debut with Josh (2009) and broke through a year later with Ye Maaya Chesave. His awards include a Filmfare Award South, a Nandi Award, two SIIMA Awards and a Telangana Gaddar Film Award, the last for Thandel (2025), his highest-grossing film.

Family and early life

Chaitanya was born in Hyderabad to Nagarjuna and Lakshmi Daggubati. His paternal grandfather was the actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and his maternal grandfather the producer D. Ramanaidu. The actor Akhil Akkineni is his half-brother, Venkatesh is his maternal uncle, and his cousins Rana Daggubati, Sumanth and Sushanth are also actors.

He grew up in Chennai, studying at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and AMM School, and graduated from St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad. During his second year of college he told his father he wanted to act. He then took a three-month acting course in Mumbai, trained in acting and martial arts in Los Angeles, and had a year of voice and dialogue coaching before his debut.

Debut and breakthrough

In Vasu Varma’s Josh (2009) he played a college student, and the role won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South. His breakthrough came with Gautham Vasudev Menon’s romantic drama Ye Maaya Chesave (2010), in which he played an assistant director who falls in love. Reviewers praised his ease in romantic scenes, and the film became a hit that later gained cult status, earning him his first Filmfare nomination for Best Actor – Telugu.

100% Love (2011), opposite Tamannaah Bhatia, was another success, but Dhada and Bejawada, both released in 2011, were poorly received.

Recovery and a family film

The action film Tadakha (2013), a remake of the Tamil Vettai, was a commercial success, and critics noted a clear improvement in his performance. In 2014 he appeared alongside his grandfather and father in Manam, playing two roles, and critics again remarked on how much he had matured as an actor. The same year he played a mechanic in Deva Katta’s Autonagar Surya, which failed commercially although his performance was appreciated.

Later successes

He had further successes with Oka Laila Kosam (2014), Premam (2016), Rarandoi Veduka Chudham (2017), Majili (2019), Venky Mama (2019), Love Story (2021) and Bangarraju (2022). In 2022 he made his Hindi debut in the comedy drama Laal Singh Chaddha. He later starred in the horror mystery series Dhootha (2023) and the romantic action film Thandel (2025).

Naga Chaitanya and Samantha movies

Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu appear together in six Telugu films on our cast records, from 2010 to 2019: Ye Maaya Chesave (2010), Manam (2014), Autonagar Surya (2014), Mahanati (2018), Majili (2019) and O Baby! Yentha Sakkagunnave (2019). The list with release dates, directors and streaming status is on the Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya movies page.

Business and personal life

Chaitanya owns the cloud kitchen chains Shoyu and Scuzi and endorses a range of brands. He is married to the actress Sobhita Dhulipala.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Naga Chaitanya; Wikidata; our own cast records for the films listed.