Sumanth is a Telugu film actor/producer from the Akkineni family. He is the nephew of actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, and the grandson of the late legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao.[1] He is also partner in Annapurna Studios, a prominent film studio/production house that was established in 1975 by his grandfather.
Sumanth studied at the Hyderabad Public School, graduating in 1992. For his undergraduate studies, he went to the United States, where he enrolled in an engineering course at Michigan. Realizing that engineering didn't match his career aspirations, he later transferred to Columbia College in Chicago, where he majored in film. During his senior year in university, he was selected to the Dean's list in recognition of his academic excellence.
Sumanth was born in Hyderabad, India, on February 9, 1975.[citation needed] He is the only son of Surendra Yarlagadda and the late Satyavathi Akkineni.[citation needed] He has one sister, Supriya Yarlagadda, a film producer and executive director of Annapurna Studios. A few months after his birth, Sumanth's parents returned to the US where they were residing. Sumanth, however, remained in India on the request of his grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao. He was subsequently adopted by his grandfather and his grandmother, the late Annapurna Akkineni.
Sumanth is also closely related to the prominent film producer and studio owner D. Ramanaidu from his paternal side. The noted film producer Suresh Babu Daggubati and the famous Telugu actor, Venkatesh Daggubati are his uncles. Fellow actors, Naga Chaitanya Akkineni, Sushanth, and Rana Daggubati are his cousins.
In August 2004, Sumanth married former actress Keerthi Reddy. They, however, were divorced amicably in 2006. Sumanth presently resides in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, at the home of his late grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
