Ranganathan Madhavan (goes by R. Madhavan), is an Indian actor, writer, and film producer, born on June 1, 1970, in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. He has worked in Tamil, Hindi, and English films. During his college years, he spent a year as an exchange student in Canada and graduated with a degree in electronics. Manny was also a leading National Cadet Corp cadet and received training with the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force. After college, he taught courses in public speaking and started modeling. Manny started his career in television in soap operas and small roles. In 2000, he made his acting breakthrough in director Mani Ratnam’s ‘Alaipayuthey’ (Tamil), for which he won a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South. In 2002, he played the father of an adopted Sri Lankan child in ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ (A Peck on the Cheek). The movie won six National Awards in 2003. Manny is also known for Hindi movies, such as: ‘Rang de Basanti’ (2006), ‘Guru’ (2007), ‘3 Idiots’ (2009), ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ (2011), and ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ (2015).  In   2016, Manny starred in a sports film he helped write and produce, Irudhi Suttru (Tamil)/Saala Khadoos (Hindi). In 2017, he starred along with Vijay Sethupathi in “Vikram Vedha’, a Tamil movie. The movie is a gripping crime thriller, pitting Manny’s self-righteous cop against a Chennai don in a fascinating character study of both men. Manny was last seen in ‘Nishabdham’(2020), a bilingual thriller co-starring Anushka Shetty, and ‘Maara’ (2021), a romantic remake of the popular Malayalam film ‘Charlie’.  Manny received critical acclaim for ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’, which he has written, produced, and directed (directorial debut). It is a biopic about Nambi Narayanan, an aerospace engineer accused falsely of espionage.