Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair

Mohanlal Viswanathan Biography

Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960 in Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. He has acted in more than 400 films over a career spanning more than four decades. He made his acting debut at the age of 18 in Thiranottam (1978), whose release was held up for about 25 years by censorship issues; his screen debut came with the 1980 romance Manjil Virinja Pookkal, in which he played the antagonist.

After several years of villainous and secondary roles he established himself as a leading man by the mid-1980s, and the 1986 crime drama Rajavinte Makan sharply raised his stardom. He has won five National Film Awards: a Special Mention for Kireedam (1989), Best Actor for Bharatham (1991) and Vanaprastham (1999), Best Feature Film as the producer of Vanaprastham, and a Special Jury Award in 2016. Outside Malayalam, his best-known work includes the Tamil political drama Iruvar (1997), the Hindi crime drama Company (2002) and the Telugu film Janatha Garage (2016), which won him a Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Drishyam (2013) became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of its time and Pulimurugan (2016) was the first Malayalam film to gross over ₹100 crore. His career resurged in 2025 with L2: Empuraan, Thudarum and Hridayapoorvam, which rank among the highest-grossing Malayalam films; the pan-India release Vrusshabha, which opened in December 2025, underperformed at the box office. In 2026 he returned as Georgekutty in Drishyam 3, released on 21 May. He was made an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Territorial Army in 2009, received the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2019, and was presented the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2023 by President Droupadi Murmu.

Basic Details

• Full name: Mohanlal Viswanathan
• Known as: Mohanlal
• Date of birth: 21 May 1960
• Birthplace: Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India
• Age: 66 (2026)
• Nationality: Indian
• Profession: Actor, film producer, playback singer
• Years active: 1978 – present
• Spouse: Suchitra (married 1988)
• Children: Pranav Mohanlal and Vismaya Mohanlal

Career Highlights