Konidela Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. Born in the Allu–Konidela family, Tej is the son of actor Nagendra Babu. Tej made his acting debut in 2014 with Mukunda.Tej received praise for featuring in Krish's critically acclaimed war film Kanche (2015). He established himself as a leading actor with the romantic drama Fidaa (2017), a major critical and commercial success. Tej has since starred in films including Tholi Prema (2018), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019), F2 (2019) and F3 (2022). Tej is married to his co-actor Lavanya Tripathi.

Early life

Varun Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. He is a nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins. He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.

Early life and family

Varun Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. He is a nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins. He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.

Career

Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film ''Hands Up'' when he was ten years old. He made his adult debut with ''Mukunda'', starring opposite fellow newcomer Pooja Hegde. The film earned mixed reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film ''Kanche'', starring opposite Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics. Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with ''The Times of India'' praising his "capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety". His second release that year ''Loafer'', was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing ''Mister.''The later half of 2017 saw the release of ''Fidaa'', where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film was commercially successful grossing over His second release that year ''Loafer'', was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing ''Mister.''The later half of 2017 saw the release of ''Fidaa'', where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film was commercially successful grossing over 90 crore at the box office. His 2018 release ''Tholi Prema'' was also a box office success and Tej's performance as an impulsive young man was widely appreciated. His next film that year was space thriller ''Antariksham 9000 KMPH'', directed by Sankalp Reddy.In 2019, Tej's first release was ''F2: Fun and Frustration'' which is a multistarrer with Venkatesh, Tamannaah and Mehreen Pirzada are also a part of this movie which is huge blockbuster. After ''F2'', he dubbed in Telugu for Aladdin's role in the film ''Aladdin.'' He later starred in ''Gaddalakonda Ganesh,'' a remake of Tamil film ''Jigarthanda'', directed by Harish Shankar which was successful at the box office.As of January 2020, Tej has two films under production, ''Ghani'', and F2's sequel ''F3.'' Tej is playing the role of a boxer, in ''Ghani'' directed by Kiran Korrapati.Varun Tej's upcoming film, "Operation Valentine," is set to hit theaters on 16 February 2024.As of march 2024,Tej's upcoming film, "matka," is directed by karuna kumar.

Personal life

Tej met actress Lavanya Tripathi, on the sets of their film ''Mister'' (2017) and eventually started dating her. They went onto work together in ''Antariksham 9000 KMPH'' in 2018. The couple got engaged on 9 June 2023 in Hyderabad. Tej married Tripathi on 1 November 2023 in Tuscany, Italy in a traditional ceremony.

Other works

Year

Title

Role

Notes

Ref.
2018

Nanna Koochi

Narrator

ZEE5 series


2019

Aladdin

Aladdin (voice)

as dubbing artist; dubbed in Telugu