American-born Kannada actor Chetan Kumar, who rose to fame in 2004 after making a documentary on the caste system and gender discrimination, made a name for himself in the Kannada industry. The actor was born and brought up in the US and turns 40 on February 24. He prefers to be known as a social activist more than an actor. He completed his education in the USA and came to India to serve his country. The actor, who is also fond of theatre, has acted in the plays Sethumadhavan Sallap and Sunset to Sunrise. Since 2005, he has been voluntarily teaching at a village school in Mullur, near Mysore, with an aim to develop critical and analytical thinking in children.
In the year 2007, he made his entry into the Kannada film industry with the film Aa Dinagalu directed by KM Chaitanya. The film was based on the story of the Bangalore mafia. He even received Udaya TV Award for his performance in the film. After acting in films like Suryakaanti and Birugali, Chetan got his big break in 2013 with the film Myna.
Kumar was interested in music and dance since his college days and is an expert in modern dance as well as Carnatic music.
He has also endorsed and taken part in social causes like the endosulfan victims’ movement in 2013, raising awareness for the rights of film industry workers, the movement for resettlement of tribals of Kodagu in 2016, and raising awareness on issues faced by the Kadugolla community.
He also identifies himself as a feminist and was also arrested for tweeting against one of the judges hearing the hijab issue that grabbed eyeballs in Karnataka.
In one of the media interactions, her wife Megha revealed that Chetan wanted to become a professor after his PhD, and acting was never on his to-do list. Chetan’s father was not very happy with his decision to act in and had questioned Chetan about taking up acting after getting into Yale. It was when he realized how talented an actor Chetan was that he started appreciating his work.
The actor considers Dr BR Ambedkar, Periyar, Kuvempu, Basava as his role icons. He was also friends with late actor Puneeth Rajkumar
Read all the Latest Movies News here