Kamal Kamaraju

Kamaraju was born on 3 September 1981 in Sevagram, Maharashtra in a Telugu family to Jawaharlal Kamaraju and Nirmala Gutta. His father retired as an AGM in Navratna Company NMDC and his mother took voluntary retirement from state organization Markfed. Both hail from Hyderabad where they brought up Kamal and his elder brother, actor Kranthi Kiran.

Kamal was named after his paternal grandmother, Kamala Devi, who hails from Razole in East Godavari district. His maternal grandparents were freedom fighters and were particular that their daughter give birth in renowned Gandhian surroundings.

Kamal studied at Little Flower High School in Hyderabad, where he picked up interest in art, theatre and dance. This later on led to his joining architecture from the JNTU–School of Planning and Architecture (now Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University), Hyderabad where he earned his bachelor's degree in architecture.

On 6 October 2013, Kamal got engaged to Supriya Biswas and the two got married on 13 December 2013. Kamal started his career as an assistant art director to director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti under the tutelage of renowned art director Ravinder for the film Anukokunda Oka Roju (2005). He got his first opportunity as an actor in Chhatrapati (2005) while working as associate art director for the same film under director S. S. Rajamouli. However, he was most recognised for his role in Sekhar Kammula's Godavari (2006). He then paired up with Kuruvilla to do an independent film called Confessions of a Film Actor (2007) which was one of the first films to be released online as a pay-per-view and became an instant hit overseas.

He was later launched as a lead actor by Kammula who produced the well acclaimed Avakai Biryani (2008) directed by Anish Kuruvilla. This led him to doing lead roles in other films like Kalavaramaye Madilo (2009) and Virodhi (2011). He also ventured into Tamil films with Ayiram Vilakku (2010) under the direction of Hosimin where he played a negative role.