Mammootty is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema. Over a career spanning five decades, he has received extensive critical acclaim and numerous honours, including three National Film Award for Best Actor, eleven Kerala State Film Awards, eleven Kerala Film Critics Awards and Sixteen Filmfare Awards South. Mammootty holds the record for the most appearances in the final round of the National Film Award for Best Actor. He has been honoured at international film festivals such as the International Film Festival of India and the Muscat International Film Festival.
He has received several major civilian and academic honours. In 2026, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for his contributions to Indian cinema. Earlier, he received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1998 and the Kerala Prabha from the Government of Kerala in 2022. He also received honorary doctorates from the University of Kerala and the University of Calicut.
Mammootty received his first National Film Award for Best Actor in 1990 for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Mathilukal. In 1994, he secured his second National Film Award for Best Actor for his performances in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Vidheyan and T. V. Chandran's Ponthan Mada. In 1997, Mammootty received his third National Film Award for Best Actor for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, in which he portrayed the role of B. R. Ambedkar.
In 2013, an online poll conducted by CNN-IBN on their website as part of the 100 years celebration of Indian cinema ranked two of his films, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Anantaram, amongst the "greatest Indian film ever". On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, Forbes included Mammootty's performance in Mathilukal on its list, "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". In 2019, Vogue India published a list of Biggest icons of south Indian cinema, labelled him as "Master". In 2005, Asianet called him "The greatest method actor to grace Indian cinema."
He owned a film production company, Casino Films, which produced several of his films. He formed a television production company, Megabytes, which produced television serials, the first being Jwalayay. In 2022, he became one of the few actors in India to have completed 50 years in Indian cinema. Mammootty has been honoured at a few international film festivals like the Muscat International Film Festival and International Film Festival of India.