Biography
Kishore Kumar G, popularly known as Kishore, is an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada cinema. He completed his education at St Teresa's School, Sri Siddhartha High School, National College, and Bangalore University. Kumar discovered his passion for acting at an early age and pursued it through theatre in college, participating in various plays such as Samrat Ashoka and Teregalu.
After completing his master's degree, Kumar started working as a teacher of Kannada literature at Sharada College in Bengaluru. He taught for two years before quitting his job to pursue a career in cinema.
He made his acting debut in Kanti (2004), a romance drama directed by S. Bharath. His next big screen appearance was in Sadhu Kokila's crime thriller Rakshasa (2005). Kumar earned much appreciation for his acting in both movies. For his performance in Rakshasa, he won the Karnataka State Film Award 2004-05 for Best Supporting Actor. Since then, Kumar has acted in several movies in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam film industries.
During the initial years of his acting career, he acted in movies like Akash (2005) and Kallarali Hoovagi (2006), where he portrayed the character of a tough elder brother of the leading ladies.
Around the same time, director Vetrimaaran approached him to work on his upcoming project Desiya Nedunchalai 47, which was ultimately shelved. However, Kumar got the opportunity to act in Polladhavan (2007), an action thriller that became a tremendous success at the box office, where he played the role of the villain Selvam. His portrayal of Selvam gave his career a big boost, and he went on to win the Vijay Award 2007 for Best Villain for the role.
He continued to showcase his versatility through various roles onscreen. In Duniya (2007), he played the role of a serious cop. In Suseenthiran's sports drama Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009), he appeared as a kabaddi coach.
Kumar garnered attention when he appeared in the lead role in Attahaasa (2013), a film based on the life of the forest brigand Veerappan and directed by A.M.R. Ramesh. Following this, he was seen in Haridas (2013), an action drama directed by Kumaravelan that received much critical acclaim. He appeared as a conscientious policeman and devoted father to an autistic child. In the same year, he portrayed the role of a forest guard in Jatta (2013), a thriller directed by Giriraj B.M.. The film garnered critical acclaim from audiences and critics alike for the story as well as the portrayal of its characters.
In Rakshit Shetty's neo-noir gangster film Ulidavaru Kandanthe (2014), Kumar portrayed the character of Munna. He later appeared in the lead role in Kalki (2017), a short film directed by Dhilip Kumar. The film was released through Netflix.
After portraying brief roles in several other movies, Kumar played the character of an upright forest officer, Murali, in Kantara (2022), an action thriller directed by Rishab Shetty. The film was a massive commercial success and became the second highest-grossing Kannada movie of all time. Kumar gathered praise for his powerful performance in the film.
Kumar was also part of Mani Ratnam's epic historical action-adventure film Ponniyin Selvan: Part I (2022), in which he played the character of Ravidasan. The film received rave reviews and turned into a huge box-office success.
Over the years, Kumar has acted in several web series. These include High Priestess (2019), The Family Man (2019), Addham (2020), She (2020), and Pettaikaali (2022).
