Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal , is an Indian actor and producerknown for his versatile acting in Indian cinema. He made his acting debut in the unreleased movie Thiranottam (1978), which was followed by a role as the lead antagonist in his first release Manjil Virinja Pookkal in 1980.

Antagonistic parts in several movies followed before Mohanlal established himself as a lead actor playing a wide variety of character types in comedy and action films amongst others. He was labelled a superstar of Malayalam cinema in 1985 after the success of Rajavinte Makan, in which he played an underworld don. Mohanlal became a film producer with the 1990 musical His Highness Abdullah and has also acted in a number of Tamil and Bollywoodfilms. Of these, his notable roles were in Iruvar, directed by Mani Ratnam, and Company, directed by Ram Gopal Varma.

Mohanlal is regarded as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema and is a cultural icon^[4] in the Indian state of Kerala, where he was elected its most popular individual in a 2006 online poll conducted by CNN-IBN on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Kerala's formation.^[5] In 2001, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, for his contributions to Indian cinema. He has won four Indian National Film Awards