This Actor Has Appeared in More Than 1000 Movies

Brahmanandam Kanneganti, 59, is a popular Indian actor, known for his quick wit and comic timing—but is even more famous for appearing in more than 1000 movies.

The actor and comedian has been active in India’s Telugu language film industry since 1987 and has amassed a staggering number of roles. To put that into perspective, Christopher Lee, who previously held the Guinness World Record for most screen credits, appeared in 244 movies over the course of more than 60 years. Brahmanandam has appeared in four times as many movies in half the time. The former professor, with a degree in Telugu literature, officially broke Lee’s record in 2010 with 857 films. Since then, he’s gone on to act in at least 143 more movies, though the actor told the Times of India he’d stopped counting after 997.

If you’ve never heard of Brahmanandam, that’s not so surprising. Tollywood films are popular throughout India, where Telugu is the third-most spoken language, but have a smaller audience in the West, where Telugu speakers are relatively rare. 

Still, Brahmanandam is an incredibly popular and prolific actor in a film industry that has been around for more than a century. The actor, whose name means “the happiness of the universe,” got his start after a producer witnessed his amateur stand-up comedy act and offered him a small film role.

Since then, the prolific actor tells the Times of India he has never tired of working. However, he does hope to slow things down a bit now that he’s broken quadruple digits: “I do plan to go easy and be more selective with my films from now on. There is an old saying … ‘Fresh water replaces the old water, but the moss stays in its place.’ I guess that explains my longevity.”

[h/t: Times of India]