1. He is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter, and singer who primarily works in Kannada films.

2. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil films.

3. He was born in Shimoga district, Karnataka.

4. He has a bachelor's degree in industrial and production engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering in Bangalore.

5. He later attended Roshan Taneja's School of Acting in Mumbai.

6. He made his first appearance on the silver screen with Thayavva (1997), a Kannada-language film directed by V. Umakanth.

7. He has won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Kannada for three consecutive years for his films Huchcha (2001), Nandhi (2002), and Swathi Muthu (2003).

8. Since 2013, he has hosted the television reality show Bigg Boss in Kannada.

9. His father was a hotelier.

10. He has no cinema background and his interests in singing and music drew him to the movies.

11. His first breakthrough was Huccha which went on to become Tere Naam in Hindi with Salman Khan in the lead role.