Raghu Babu

Raghu Babu is a prominent Telugu actor and comedian, who become famous for his outstanding comic timing and expressions. He was born as Raghu Babu Yerra on June 24, 1964, in Ravinuthala, Andhra Pradesh in India. He is the eldest son of Giri Babu, a famous Telugu actor and comedian. He studied in Madras from his 7th standard until college. He took an Engineering course (AMI), but in 1988, he stopped schooling and helped his father in his film production job. In the same year, he also got married. He started acting at the age of 10 in the drama play, Sri Krishna Tulabaram, which became very popular. Initially, Raghu did not have any plans to become an actor. But the late director, Satya Reddy, insisted that he is indeed an artist and the director wanted to make him an actor. He was cast in the film, Dongalu Unnaru Jagratha in the year 1990, which marked his debut in the film industry. His real passion is to become a producer, but one day, Satya Reddy did an ad for the film without informing him. His photo was there and the rest of the cast and when he asked Satya, he just said, he is doing the movie, and so he did it.

Subsequently, he did a couple of films,, but failed to get noticed. Since he doesn’t have a good educational background after failing in his 10th class, he pursued his acting career; even though nobody offered him a role in any film. His father doesn’t want to recommend him to film producers and directors, as he wants him to earn the role out of his talent. He shifted to television after director Vamsi cast him in the Telugu serial, Lady Detective. But he is still struggling as an actor, and since he doesn’t want to add burdens to his father, Raghu also worked for Madras FM (radio station) and in a prawn farm. He struggled for almost five years. He also joined the Rallapalli’s acting troupe and performed in few plays. Later on, Uppalapati Naganarayana offered him a role on DD’s Vasantha Kokila. Since then, he started earning recognitions and appeared in several television serials on ETV, DD8 and Gemini TV channels. At the same time, he is also doing stage plays under the guidance of PJ Sharma, Rallapally and Ramana Murthy. He earned a Nandi Award for his performance as Yadagiri in Gandhi Jayanthi Natakam.

In 2001, he was offered to do the film, Murari. After a year, Director V.V. Vinayak, who saw his performance in Murari, cast him in the Telugu action film, Aadi. After that, there has been no looking back. He appeared in more than 150 films and became very popular for his role in the action-masala film, Bunny in 2005. He also earned praises and appreciations in the films, Mr and Mrs Sailaja Krishnamurthy (2004) and Kabaddi Kabaddi (2003).

Giri Babu Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)