Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja is an Indian actor, director, lyricist and a singer who works in the Tamil Film Industry. Venkatesh Prabhu adopted the screen name “Dhanush“. He made his debut in ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’, a movie directed by his father in 2002. His Bollywood debut was in 2013 in ‘Raanjhanaa’, a film directed by Aanand L. Rai and starring Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor. He has also been on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list. He has now made his Hollywood debut as ‘Avik San’. Dhanush worked alongside celebrities like Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas in the Russo Brothers film “The Gray Man”.

Dhanush was born on July 28, 1983 in Tamil. He did his schooling from Thai Sathya Matriculation High school in Chennai and completed his bachelors in computer from Madurai Kamaraj University. His brother Selvaraghavan, an Indian film director, inspired him to become an actor. 

Dhanush married Rajnikanth’s daughter Aishwarya in 2004.  She is an Indian film director and a playback singer who works in the South Indian film Industry. She was also selected as India’s goodwill ambassador to the United Nations in 2016. They separated after 18 years of marriage. They have two children Yatra and Linga. 

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His family includes his father Kasthuri Raja, mother Vijayalakshmi and his elder brother and two sisters. He started his acting career in movies directed by his father and elder brother. This helped him a lot to establish himself as a prominent actor in the South Indian film Industry. His father joined director K.S.G as an assistant in his early professional career and developed amazing directional skills. Later Dhanush’s father established himself as a director, producer and music director in the South Indian film industry. 

Dhanush has acted in over 45 movies and won numerous accolades and recognitions including Filmfare Award South, Nandi Awards, and CIIMA Awards for his outstanding performances. His first Indian music video “Why this Kolaveri Di” received 100 million views soon after its release.