[5] Mahesh achieved his breakthrough with the supernatural drama Murari (2001) and the action film Okkadu (2003), winning his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for his performance in the latter.

His performances in Pokiri, Dookudu, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, and Srimanthudu earned him high acclaim and four more Filmfare Awards for Best Actor - Telugu.

[6] He established "Mahesh Babu Foundation", which focuses on supporting children in need by funding life-saving congenital heart surgeries.

[7] He entered into the film exhibition business in partnership with Asian Group in 2018, with the inauguration of the seven-screen multiplex, AMB cinemas at Gachibowli.

[9] Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu was born on 9 August 1975 in a Telugu family to actor Krishna and Indira in Madras, Tamil Nadu.

[10][15] At the age of four, Babu visited the sets of the Telugu film Needa (1979) where its director Dasari Narayana Rao shot a few sequences of his as a part of the narrative in the presence of the former's brother Ramesh.

[16][additional citation(s) needed] In 1999, Babu made his debut as a lead actor with the romantic comedy Rajakumarudu, and people began referring to him with the title Prince.

[citation needed] He also starred in Krishna Vamsi's Murari (2001) which he regarded as an important film in his career and the role he played in it one of his favourites.

While its simultaneously shot Tamil version New featuring a different cast proved to be commercially successful, Naani flopped at the box office.

[19][non-primary source needed] He received his third Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in his next film, Arjun, directed by Gunasekhar and produced by Ramesh.

[29] He chose to act in Trivikram Srinivas's Athadu (2005), co-starring Trisha Krishnan, whose script had been approved back in 2002 before the production of Naani and Arjun had begun.

[38] A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Nonetheless, Sainikudu can be watched at least for its premise of letting the warrior in each individual surface, and the fact that it is done with the idea of motivating people to do something for their fellow humans".

[48] Rediff gave a 3 out of 5 rating and noted "The duo of Mahesh-Trivikram delivers a product that is watchable, entertaining with good humour, couple of well-orchestrated action sequences and songs and with a bit to take home as well.

The Income Tax Department officials conducted a raid on Babu's Jubilee Hills residence as he was rumoured of receiving a remuneration of more than ₹12 crore for his next projects.

[61] Co-starring Daggubati Venkatesh along with Anjali and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, it became the first Telugu multistarrer film to be produced in the last twenty-five years.

[67] Babu had two releases in 2014, the first one being Sukumar's 1: Nenokkadine, an action thriller focusing on a celebrity suffering from hallucinations related to the murder of his parents and the discovery of a special variety of rice.

[74] Released on 7 August 2015, Srimanthudu opened to positive reviews from critics,[75] and he won his fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for the film.

[76][77] Sethumadhavan N. of Bangalore Mirror stated, Srimanthudu wouldn't have been as effective if it did not have Mahesh Babu who is at his charming best, adding that he "underplays the emotional scenes, making them a treat to watch".

[82] He later appeared in the Telugu-Tamil bilingual Spyder (2017), directed by A. R. Murugadoss, which finally marked his Tamil cinema debut[83] and grossed over ₹118 crores at the box office.

[85] Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu stated that "Spyder starts off well but the director's imagination goes overboard only to turn a purpose ridden plot to a piece of travesty".

[88] Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost mentioned the film owes a lot to Mahesh Babu's conviction to pull off his role and he makes you believe in his characterisation so much that it doesn't feel like fiction.

[91] The Statesman reported that the film has created a social impact on the youth and raised awareness about the issues faced by farmers in the rural heartland.

Recognizing the need for holistic development, the Mahesh Babu Foundation adopted two villages, Burripalem in Andhra Pradesh and Siddhapuram in Telangana.

In these villages, the foundation has undertaken various initiatives to improve the quality of life, including constructing schools, Anganwadi buildings, libraries, roads, and drainage systems.

The foundation also conducts regular medical checkups, distributes medicines to those in need, and has fully vaccinated the entire population of the adopted villages against COVID-19.

[107] He was signed in 2013 as the goodwill ambassador of Heal-a-child Foundation, a non-profit organisation that offers financial support to the parents of terminally ill children to help with the cost of medical treatment.

[110] In October 2014, he donated ₹25 lakh to a relief fund run by the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for reconstruction of areas destroyed during Cyclone Hudhud.

Mahesh Babu's eldest sister Padmavathi is married to Galla Jayadev, an industrialist and Member of the Indian Parliament from the Telugu Desam Party.

[citation needed] Priyadarshini, his younger sister, is married to Sudheer Babu, who later made his debut as an actor in Telugu cinema.

[144] Later, a delegation from the Telugu film industry, including his father Krishna, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Allu Aravind and D. Suresh Babu, approached the then chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy to intervene in this case.