Srinath (Kannada actor)

Narayana Swamy was born on 28 December 1944 to Ramaswamy Shastri and Lalita in Mysore, in the Kingdom of Mysore of India.^[3] Initially, he acted in amateur plays and practiced cinematography in Occupational Institute in Bangalore. He entered films with a small role in the Kannada movie Lagna Pathrike.^[4] After that, he got a chance to play the main role in a film called Madhura Milana and his name was changed to Srinath.^[4] In 1975 the stupendous success of the cult movie Shubhamangala by Puttanna Kanagal made him a popular hero^[4] in Kannada cinema.

In the year of 1980-81 he was honored by the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor for his effective portrayal of the role of Raghavendra in the movie Sri Raghavendra Vaibhava. In year 2003, Srinath was honoured with the Kalaratna (Gem of Art) award by Adarsha Suguma Sangeeta Academy Trust, in Bangalore.^[6] The award was honoured by S.M. Shankar, the brother of S.M. Krishna, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka. In the same year, Srinath was honoured with the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award given by the Government of Karnataka.^[7] Then in 2013 Karnataka State Film Awards, he's honored by the prestigious Dr. Rajkumar Award for his lifetime achievement to Kannada Cinema.^[8] After completing 100 films he was given the title "Abhinaya Chakravarthy"in 1982. He is also a recipient of Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South in 2024.

Srinath is the younger brother of renowned Kannada theatre artist as well as film actor and writer C. R. Simha. Srinath is married to Geetha Srinath. The couple have two children, a son and a daughter. His son Rohit has acted in several Kannada movies as a child artist. His daughter Amulya currently lives in the U.S. with her husband and three daughters.

Srinath has set up a charitable trust called Deeya Art Foundation to provide a helping-hand to the poor and needy who are affected by diseases like cancer, HIV and heart-related ailments.^[9] Among the objectives of the foundation are organising entertainment programs exclusively for cancer-affected patients, free health check-up camps, fund-raising camps for the physically handicapped, service activities at old-age homes, blood donation camps, and free supply of medicines and nutritional food.