- published: 19 Nov 2015
- views: 23939
John Prakasa Rao Janumala, famously known as Johnny Lever born January 7, 1950 in Ossalapalle, Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh, is an Indian film actor and one of the most popular comedians in Hindi cinema. He was born to Prakash Rao Janumala and Karunamma Janumala and brought up in Mumbai. He began his career in 1984, and has acted in more than 300 Bollywood films since. He has received 13 Filmfare Awards nominations in Best Comedian Category, and has won the award twice.
Johnny Lever, born in Andhra Pradesh and was brought up in Mumbai's King's Circle area (Dharavi). His mother tongue is Telugu. Johnny studied in Andhra Telugu School till the seventh grade but couldn't study further because of financial problems in his family, after which he decided to leave school and started working different kinds of odd jobs, such as selling pens on the streets of Bombay by imitating Bollywood stars and dancing to the songs of Bollywood stars. He also spent his early ages in Yakutpura a old city of Hyderabad from where he learnt the unique style of comedy acting. He developed a passion for mimicry and stand-up comedy, inspired by watching comedians like Johnny Walker, Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in films and mimicry artists like Dinesh Hingoo and Nerella Venumadhav on stage, and thus decided to be a mimicry artist. To seek guidance and help regarding mimicry, he met his mentor Pratap Jani and mimicry artist Ram Kumar, who helped him and taught him the basics of mimicry.