Puneeth Rajkumar (Kannada : ಪುನೀತ್ ರಾಜ್ಕುಮಾರ್) is an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada films. As a six month old child (as an infant), he appeared in a cameo appearances in V. Somashekar's Premada Kanike (1976) and followed up with Sanaadi Appanna (1977) when he was a year old. Most of his earlier films had his real father Rajkumar playing his reel father as well. Films like Thayige Thakka Maga, Vasantha Geetha and Bhagyavantha followed up which also showcased his singing skills. For the N. Lakshminarayan film Bettada Hoovu he was awarded the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. He ended his childhood appearances with the action film Parashuram.
Puneeth's first leading role came opposite Rakshita in Appu (2002), a highly successful romantic drama directed by Puri Jagannadh. This was followed by Abhi opposite Ramya in 2003 and Veera Kannadiga , Maurya in 2004. All these films worked commercially well and established him as one of the leading actors in Kannada cinema.
His first award winning performance came through the film Arasu for which he won the Filmfare award and his next release Milana got him the Karnataka State Film Award. His other major successes include Prithvi, Jackie , Hudugaru , Power , Rana Vikrama (2015) and "Doddmane Hudga" (2016) .