Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), also known as Jr NTR or Tarak, is an Indian actor, singer, and television presenter who works in Telugu cinema. In his film career spanning 20 years, he has worked in over 30 films. Popularly referred as Young Tiger of Tollywood, Rama Rao has received two state Nandi Awards, two Filmfare Awards South and four CineMAA Awards. One of the highest paid Telugu film actors, he was ranked 28th in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list in 2018.
Rama Rao was born on 20 May 1983 in Hyderabad to Nandamuri Harikrishna, a Telugu film actor and politician, and Shalini Bhaskar Rao, who hails from Kundapur, Karnataka. He is the grandson of Telugu actor and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao. Initially named Tarak, he was renamed as N. T. Rama Rao on the suggestion of his grandfather. He did his schooling at Vidyaranya High School, Hyderabad, and completed his Intermediate education at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad. He is a trained Kuchipudi dancer.
He is the half-brother of actor and producer Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, the nephew of actor and politician Nandamuri Balakrishna and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the cousin of actors Taraka Ratna, Nara Rohit and politician Nara Lokesh.
Grandson of Telugu actor-politician N. T. Rama Rao, Rama Rao Jr. played the lead role as a child actor in Ramayanam (1996) which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film for that year. He made his debut as a lead actor with Ninnu Choodalani (2001) and tasted success with the film Student No. 1 (2001). He established himself as a prominent actor of Telugu cinema with performances in works such as Aadi (2002), Simhadri (2003), Rakhi (2006), Yamadonga (2007), Adhurs (2010), Brindavanam (2010), Temper (2015), Nannaku Prematho (2016), Janatha Garage (2016), Jai Lava Kusa (2017), and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018).
Rama Rao Jr. is also notable in the television industry. In 2017, he hosted the first season of the Telugu reality TV show Bigg Boss on Star Maa. Rama Rao Jr. started hosting the fifth season of Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu in 2021 on Gemini