Penmetsa Subbaraju is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Telugu cinema,as well as Tamil cinema. Subbaraju was born in Bhimavaram, to Penmatsa Ramakrishnam Raju and Vijayalakshmi. Subbaraju did his education in DNR College, Bhimavaram. He did his bachelor's degree in Mathematics before doing a computer course and joining Dell Computers in Hyderabad.
Subbaraju's introduction to the cinema world was an accident. Director Krishna Vamsi's personal assistant asked Subbaraju to fix a computer issue for Krishna Vamsi's personal computer. After going to Krishna Vamsi's house, Subbaraju was then offered a small role in Krishna Vamsi's Khadgam. He then made a full fledged acting debut in a negative role with Puri Jagannath’s film, “Amma, Nanna, O Tamil ammayi” in 2003. This film was remade in Tamil as “Kumaran, Son of Mahalakshmi” and became noted even in the Tamil industry.
Since then, he has appeared in around a hundred films, primarily in supporting and negative roles in Telugu cinema. He is remembered as Govardhan in Mahesh Babu's film Khaleja or the co-lover of Geetha who sacrifices his love in Arya2.
Subbaraju has played a variety of roles, from negative to supporting characters to comedian character roles. His most notable works include Amma Nanna O' Tamil Ammayi, Arya, Pokiri, Leader, buddah Hoga Terra Baap, Businessman, Mirchi, Baahubali 2:The Conclusion, Temper, Duvvada Jagannadham, Geetha Govindam, and Majili. Subbaraju is immensely popular in Japan for his role as Kumara Varma in the 2017 epic action film, Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Other significant acting credits in recent times include the epic fantasy action film Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), the Allu Arjun starrer Duvvada Jagannadham, Nela Ticket , the romantic comedy Geetha Govindam (2018), Ranarangam, Premasura and his 2020 released film Nishabdam.
