Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as N.T.R, was born on 28 th May,1923 in NIMMAKURU village of krishna dt., A.P. . Though he was born into an agricultural family, his family put value on education and with all the support from his family, he earned his graduation in economics.

He was a good student performing well in school and college. Once, he flunked his exams shortly after his marriage, but went on to earn a BA (Economics) from AC College, Guntur. He was a very good artist from his school days, and even won a prize in painting competitions at state level before his entry into films. He presented a portrait of Subhas Chandra Bose to him when Bose visited Vijayawada (Bejawada). (It was him that drew the original sketches for his election symbols - first cycle and later lion.)

He had his studies at Municipal High School, Vijayawada and S.R.R. College, Vijayawada before joining A.C. College, Guntur. One often-quoted story is from his college days at S.R.R. College, where the famous poet Sri Viswanatha Satyanarayana was the head of the Telugu department. NTR was asked to play a female role by Sri Viswanatha, and with great reluctance he played that role, without shaving off his mustache and earned the nickname meesala naagamma. Later at A.C. College, Guntur, he continued his acting in plays, where he was associated with veteran actors Jaggaiah and Mukkamala.

Though he earned a BA in those days, he was still a raitu bidda at his heart. He was known in his native village for his ability to tame bulls. Later, he bought agricultural lands in his native village and used to visit them amidst of busy schedules as an actor.

NTR was introduced to Sri L.V. Prasad, a veteran actor, director and producer, in 1947 at Vijayawada. By then NTR was acting in plays under his own National Art Theater productions. He formed NAT in his early college days and later he produced some of his early gems on the same banner. Sri L.V.Prasad impressed by NTR's acting skills, asked him to come to Madras for screen test.

NTR's first film was manadesam, released in 1949. He played the role of a police inspector in that movie. With that small role he played in his first film, he proved his acting skills. Industry recognized him as an actor. He signed his first role as hero with B.A.Subba Rao and was offered Rs.1116/- for that film. After signing that film he went off to Vijayawada and resigned his job as sub-registrar at Mangalagiri, where he worked for couple of weeks. His first film as hero was palleToori pilla (1950), a big hit, a first joint starrer of NTR and ANR, who went on to act in many films together, most of them regarded as classics in Telugu film history. Portraying realism was almost an obsession with NTR right from the days of palleToori pilla, in which he did a bull fight scene without a dupe and in that process broke his arm. Another thing is all the jewelry and ornaments, he wore in his mythologicals were out of pure metal, as he was against wearing fake ones.

NTR was well known for his excellent dialogue delivery and voice modulations. It is the result of yearlong hard practice on the shores of Marina Beach, Madras. This deep and sonorous voice helped him a lot in films and later in politics. His other asset was his appearance. Tall and lean (in his early days), a sharp nose, a ready smile radiating from his eyes, and curly hair, he was easily the most handsome lead actor of that time.

After palleToori pilla, he acted in maayarambha, a folk drama, followed by samsaaram and shaavukaaru, both under L.V.Prasad's direction. They turned the tables in his favor. It was the time Vijaya Studios was planning something big, to produce four films under four top directors of that time. paataaLa bhairavi under the direction of K.V.Reddy, malleeSwari under the direction of B.N.Reddy, chandrahaaram under the direction of Kamalakara Kameswara Rao, peLLichEsi chooDu under the direction of L.V.Prasad. NTR was asked to play the lead role in one of them, but he argued and convinced them to assign the lead role in all four films to him. His argument was "if I am not successful in the hands of such eminent directors, then there won't be any chance of my succeeding on this line. If I don't click in these films, I will give up my film career and go back to my village". Only after signing that exclusive contract, he went and brought his wife Smt. Basavatarakam and son Rama Krishna to Madras. He was paid Rs 500/- a month plus Rs 5,000/- for a movie during his first year of contract with Vijaya.

paataaLa bhairavi, an unprecedented hit, was the turning point in his career, which brought him the recognition as folklore mass hero. NTR excelled as the young, innocent, fearless toTa raamuDu, intent on winning the heroine against heavy odds. NTR, then became a star and once established as a successful actor, wanted to produce social conscious films under his NAT banner, with his brother Trivikrama Rao as the producer. Their first film was picchi pullayya, followed by toDu dongalu. His first two productions were mainly focused on exposing the state of affairs in the society, fared badly at box-office, but won critical acclaims and awards. His brother and co-producer Trivikrama Rao wanted to return to the native village after huge financial losses. NTR persuaded him to have a last try. After the failure of his non-commercial films, he decided to make commercial/mass films later, starting with the highly successful jayasimha (1955).

The first godly role, with which he was associated through out his later life, came in maaya bazaar as Lord Krishna. Prior to that, he made a brief appearance in the same role in famous singer Ghantasala's own production sontavooru (1956), in which, ironically, the audience did not like him at all in that role. A Tamil film sampoorNa raamaayaNam, later dubbed in Telugu, was the first film in which he played Lord Rama's role. The film that brought him instant fame for playing a godly role was sree venkaTESwara mahaatmyam - made for 11 lakhs, the film collected a crore in 1960 - on twenty prints. He acted as Lord Krishna in as many as 17 films out of 40 odd mythologicals he did. He also literally became the face of many mythological and historical characters like Rama, Krishna, Ravana, Dhuryodhana, Karna, Krishnadeva Rayalu etc, etc.

Salient features of his own productions were the negative roles he played, reintroduction of forgotten people from the industry and introduction of new faces on the screen etc. His positive interpretation of traditionally negative roles like Duryodhana, Ravana won him critical acclaim. In 1961, NTR wrote an article in Andhra Patrika weekly "naaku naccina paatra - raavana". That article gives good insight of NTR, the man as well. Also, he was not shy to play the aged roles of bheeshma and as an old man and ruffian in raaju - pEda, when he was young.

From the very first film of his, he evolved an acting style of his own. He rarely fumbled for words in front of the camera, as he always knew his dialogues thoroughly.

NTR is known as deeply religious and at times superstitious too!

NTR had remarkable success as a director too. seetaaraama kaLyaanam was the first film he directed, though he didn't put his name in the film credits. He chose to play the role raavana in that film. Later, he directed sree krishNa paanDaveeyam, varakaTnam, daana veera soora karNa etc.

His discipline was legendary. Until his death, he woke up early, did his daily exercises, and was punctual for all his appointments. In his forties, he learned dance from the kuchipudi dance maestro, Sri Vempati China Satyam, for his role as the dance teacher bruhannala in nartanaSaala. In an industry notorious for alcoholism, he kept away from it. His unfailing courtesy to junior stars was also a defining characteristic of him.

His first 290 films may have grossed a staggering Rs 200+ crores. And in the first 22 years of his career he only charged in thousands. His first film as a hero, palleToori pilla was a silver jubilee hit for which he was paid Rs 1116/-. He was paid Rs 7,500/- for maayabazaar.

He was one of the early movers to Hyderabad from Madras, which in turn brought the whole Telugu film industry to Hyderabad. He built a studio and theaters in Hyderabad. He made films under his Rama Krishna Cine Studios banner with his sons Hari Krishna as producer and Mohan Krishna as Cinematographer. He directed and acted along with his son, present day's top star of Telugu films Mr.Bala Krishna.

During the later days of his film career, he was still enormously popular though his physical appearance changed. The earlier physical grace was gone and there were only few directors that could handle him. He started a new trend of films with lots of racy lyrics and hip swinging dances with young heroines, starting with edurulEni manishi in mid 70's. In late 70's and in early 80's he added revolution and awareness to his movies like aDavi raamuDu, sardaar paapaaraayuDu, bobbili puli, justice choudary, etc., with young directors K.Raghavendra Rao and Dasari Narayana Rao. All of them were box-office hits. When the producers were running for his call sheets, he announced his decision of entering into politics.