Mammootty (born Muhammad Kutty Ismail Paniparambil on 7 September 1951) is an Indian film actor and producer best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he has acted in over 350 films.

 

Mammootty, a lawyer by profession, appeared in a few uncredited roles in the 1970s. After establishing himself as a lead actor in the 1980s, he got his major breakthrough with the commercial success of the 1987 film New Delhi. He has won 3 National Film Awards for Best Actor, 7 Kerala State Film Awards, and 13 Filmfare Awards South. In 1998, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contributions towards the arts. He has also received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Kerala in January 2010 and from the University of Calicut in December 2010.

 

Mammootty is the chairman of Malayalam Communications, which runs the Malayalam television channels Kairali TV, People TV and WE TV. He is also the goodwill ambassador of the Akshaya project, the first district-wide e-literacy project in India. He is the patron of the Pain and Palliative Care Society, a charitable organisation in Kerala formed with the aim of improving the quality of life among patients with advanced cancer. He has also been working with the Pain and Palliative Care Centre situated in Kozhikode, India.