Best known for essaying the eponymous hero in the contemporary Telugu classic Arjun Reddy (2017), Vijay Deverakonda is a Filmfare Award-winning actor who works primarily in Tollywood. He debuted in cinema with a central role in the 2011 romantic comedy Nuvvila, and has since appeared in over a dozen movies. Some of the actor`s popular film credits include the coming-of-age drama Yevade Subramanyam (2015), the romantic comedy Pelli Choopulu (2016) and the biographical drama Mahanati (2018).

Early Life
Vijay was born to Devarakonda Gowardhan Rao and Devarakonda Madhavi in Hyderabad. He has a younger brother Anand, and both his parents hail from the Mahabubnagar district of Telangana. Vijay`s mother is the proprietor of Speak Easy in Hyderabad and his father is a TV director. As a child, Vijay spent most of his growing years away from his family as he completed his schooling from Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School, which is a boarding school in Aranthapur district, Andhra Pradesh. Vijay later credited the peaceful and calm environment of his school, which helped him hone his acting skills. When in school, the actor had no access to TV and mobile phones, and so he spent most of his time reading newspapers, books, and playing sports. After he completed his schooling, Vijay returned to Hyderabad and was enrolled at the Little Flower Junior College. Later, the actor graduated from the Badruka College of Commerce.

Movie Career
Vijay began his acting career with the Hyderabad-based theater group Sutradhar. After completing a three-month workshop with the group, Vijay acted in several stage plays in Hyderabad. He was later associated with the theater company Ingenium Dramatics before venturing into films.

It was in the year 2011 that Vijay got his first break as an actor in a minor role in the movie Nuvvila directed by Ravi Babu. The actor followed this with another minor role in the movie Life is Beautiful (2012) directed by Sekhar Kammula. The actor then directed an English short film, Madam Meerena, in 2014 before making his lead acting debut.

In 2015, Vijay was cast in the lead role in Nag Ashwin`s movie Yevade Subramanyam alongside the popular actor Nani. Director Nag Ashwin first met Vijay on the sets of Life is Beautiful. The movie was produced by the daughters of C. Ashwini Dutt, who is one of the leading producers of the Telugu film industry. It was Priyanka Dutt who backed Vijay citing him to be immensely talented. The movie went on to become a hit and Vijay was highly praised by the audience and critics alike.

In the following year, the actor appeared in the romantic comedy Pelli Choopulu (2016) alongside Ritu Verma. A critical and commercial success, the movie won two National Film Awards - for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Screenplay - that year, while Vijay was lauded in all circles for his portrayal of a lazy but talented chef. This was followed by a career-defining performance in Arjun Reddy (2017), where the actor played a mercurial surgeon prone to anger management issues and alcohol abuse. The film opened to near-universal acclaim and has since been remade to Tamil and Hindi, while Vijay won the maiden Filmfare Award of his career for his work. Among his other significant film credits in recent times are the biographical drama Mahanati (2018), the romantic comedy Geetha Govindam (2018), Taxiwaala (2018), NOTA, Dear Comrade (2019) and Meeku Maathrame Cheptha (2019). His 2020 release includes World Famous Lover. He then made his debut in the Hindi film industry with Liger (2022). He then featured in Kushi (2022) and Jana Gana Mana (2023). His other releases include Liger, Kushi, The Family Star, Saamraajya and Kingdom.