Tollywood celebrities who have degrees in engineering

We know them for taking on a wide variety of roles in films or helming movies, but did you know that some of Tollywood's biggest stars have a degree in engineering? Actors like Akkineni Nagarjuna, Taapsee Pannu, Srinivas Avasarala and others earned degrees in engineering before heading after their showbusiness dreams. Let’s have a look at some famous Tollywood celebrities who have engineering degrees.

Akkineni Nagarjuna is one Tollywood star who needs no introduction. Being the son of legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nag forayed into the film industry and made a name for himself. He is one of the A-list actors in Tollywood today, but before taking up acting as a profession, he studied Automobile Engineering from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Currently, Nagarjuna is busy wrapping up the shoot of ‘DevaDas’ where he shares screen space with Nani.

Before gaining fame as a film star, Taapsee Pannu had worked as a software engineer with a degree of Computer Science Engineering from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi. According to reports, it was her colleagues and well-wishers who encouraged her to take up modelling as a career instead of doing a techie job. This prompted her to pursue a career in modelling before going taking up acting. A few years down the line, Taapsee is one of the biggest stars in the Telugu and Hindi film industries.

Who could have guessed that Tollywood’s funny man was an engineer by profession? Vennela Kishore attended the Ferris state university, where he received a bachelor degree in Computer Science. Before stepping into the film industry, the comedian worked in the US as a software quality engineer. He found his true calling when performing in the rom-com ‘Vennela’ where he featured as a university student from the USA. Not many know that Kishore is also a director who has helmed films like ‘Vennela 1 ½’ and ‘Jaffa’. He will be next seen in ‘Saaho’, ‘Savyasachi’, ‘Padi Padi Leche Manasu’, ‘Amkar Akbar Anthony’ and ‘Sailaja Reddy Alludu’.

This famous and extremely good looking Tollywood actress earned a bachelor's engineering degree from Mallareddy Engineering College. After completing her studies, she acted in a short film titled ‘Anukokunda’, which earned her a Best Female Actor award. Although she made her debut with the 2013 film ‘Prema Ishq Kaadhal’, the actress shot to fame with Vijay Devarakonda starrer ‘Pelli Choopulu’ where she was seen as a tough girl, post that, there was no looking back. She will next be seen in the films ‘China’, ‘Dhruva Natchathiram’ and ‘Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal’.

Srinivas Avasarala donned multiple hats in his career. He is not only an actor but also a screenwriter, director, dialogue writer and television host. The comedian and actor has a Mechanical Engineering background. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Dakota. But while at Los Angeles, he did screenwriting diploma at the University of California, trained in acting for a year at in New York City. He also worked as an assistant director for the television series called ‘Blind Ambition’.

Sekhar Kammula, the talented filmmaker famous for his movies like ‘Anand’, ‘Godavari’, ‘Happy Days’, ‘Leader’ and ‘Fidaa’, started his career as an engineer in IT for about three years. He earned a Bachelor's degree in engineering at Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) and received a post-graduate degree in the US. To pursue his dream career in the film industry, later pursued a Master’s degree in filmmaking from Howard University.