Kalyan Kumar (7 June 1928 – 1 August 1999) was an Indian actor, as well as an occasional film director and producer, who worked primarily in Kannada and Tamil cinema.

Making his acting debut in the mythological drama Natashekara (1954), Kalyan Kumar went on to star in over 200 films in a span of over five decades.

Kalyan Kumar has the credit of being the first ever Kannada actor to star in a colour film in Amarashilpi Jakanachari (1963).

[4] Kalyan Kumar was born as Chokkanna in a Tamil speaking Iyengar family on 7 June 1928 in Bangalore, in the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore of British India.

Kumar set out to Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue a career as an actor and approached several film producers to get his first break.

[5] He would go on to appear in successful films such as Mavana Mgalu, Arishina Kunkuma, Bedi Bandavalu, Kathaa Sangama, and Kaleju Ranga.

[2] He acted with all the prominent heroines of his time - B Saroja Devi, Sahukar Janaki, Kalpana, Jayanti, Bharati, Aarathi, and Roopadevi.

He was a regular actor in the early G V Iyer films like Bhoodana, Tayi karalu, Lawyer magalu and Bangari.

His Tamil film Nenjil Oru Alayam was later made in Hindi as Dil Ek Mandir with Rajendra Kumar.