Tottempudi Gopichand

Tottempudi Gopichand (born 12 June 1979) is an Indian actor who works primarily in Telugu cinema. Known for his roles in action films, he made his debut with Tholi Valapu (2001) in a lead role. After playing an antagonist in films such as Jayam (2002), Nijam (2003) and Varsham (2004), he got his breakthrough as a protagonist with Yagnam in 2004.

His notable works include Yagnam (2004), Andhrudu (2005), Ranam (2006), Lakshyam (2007), Souryam (2008), Golimaar (2010), Sahasam (2013), Loukyam (2014), Jil (2015), Seetimaarr (2021), and Pakka Commercial (2022). He is fondly referred to as Action Star and Macho Star.

Gopichand was born in a village near Tangutur in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. He is the younger son of the filmmaker T. Krishna and was 8 years old when his father died. He was schooled at Nil Desperandum, Ongole (established by his father) and Ramakrishna Mission school, Chennai. He studied mechanical engineering in Russia.

His elder brother Premchand was an associate director under Muthyala Subbaiah and started working as a director; however, he died in a car accident. Gopichand was in Russia at that time and could not attend his funeral due to visa issues. He also has a younger sister, who is a dentist.

After completing his engineering, he decided to pursue a career in films to continue his father's legacy and did a dialogue modulation course for a year. He is close friends with Prabhas, V. Vamsi Krishna Reddy, and Pramod Uppalapati, the latter two, who own UV Creations, a prominent production house in Telugu cinema.

Gopichand made his debut as a lead with the film Tholi Valapu. He played negative roles in his next films Jayam, Nijam and Varsham. Following the positive reception towards his performance in Jayam, he reprised his role in the film's Tamil-language remake of the same title. He made his re-entry as hero with the films Yagnam in 2004 and Andhrudu in 2005. In 2006, he starred in the commercially successful Ranam and the commercially unsuccessful Raraju. His 2007 releases Okkadunnadu and Lakshyam, and the 2008 releases were Ontari and Souryam. He collaborated once again with Souryam director Siva for their 2009 release Sankham.[10][11][12][13]

His 2010 release Golimar saw him playing an encounter specialist inspired by the real-life cop Daya Nayak. In 2011, he acted in Mogudu and Wanted but both were commercial failures. In 2013, he reunited with director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti (after Okkadunnadu) for the action-adventure film Sahasam which became his biggest commercially successful film at that time.[14] In 2014, he starred in Loukyam commercially became his most successful film.[15] In 2015, he starred in Jil and Soukhyam. In 2017, he starred in Goutham Nanda and Oxygen which were both commercially unsuccessful.[16][17][18] His next film Aaradugula Bullet was slated to release the same year but did not materialize until 2021.[19] It turned out to be a routine drama, suffering another setback.[20] In 2018, he played a vigilante in Pantham, which was his 25th film. In 2019, he played a spy in Chanakya.

As of September 2021[update], his sports action film Seetimaarr, directed by Sampath Nandi received positive reviews and was a success in the box office. The film star co-stars Tamannaah Bhatia, Digangana Suryavanshi, Bhumika Chawla.[21] He has also worked on another film, Pakka Commercial which was directed by Maruthi and produced by UV Creations, and GA2 Pictures starring Raashi Khanna as the lead heroine.[22] His next movie, Ramabanam, directed by Sriwass was released in May 2023 and released to negative reviews. It was a box-office bomb. This film marked the return of the combination of Sriwass and Gopichand, and also was Gopichand's 30th film. His next film, Bhimaa, was filmed by A. Harsha and released on March 8, 2024, which is a fantasy action drama film.[23]

He was born and raised in Tangutur, Andhra Pradesh. He married Reshma, niece of Telugu actor Srikanth in 2013.[24] The couple has two sons.[25]