Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao, popularly known as S. V. Ranga Rao and SVR, was an Indian actor and filmmaker who primarily worked in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of Indian cinema. He is known by the epithet "Viswa Nata Chakravarthi" and was the earliest known character actor in South Indian cinema to achieve a star status. In a career spanning nearly three decades, Ranga Rao garnered various national and international honours.