Kriss Venugopal
Kriss Venugopal[1] (born October 4, 1975) (a.k.a Kris, Kris Iyer and Krishnan Ayilur Venugopalan) is an Indian Voice Coach & Artist, Actor, Author and a practicing hypnotherapist. Over two decades in Media, Kriss Venugopal, has his expertise in Radio, Television, Stage, Scripting, Acting and more. As a Jock and Programming Head in three languages, Radio has been his driving force for over 11 years. Web, Design, Branding, Voice training and copy-writing kindle the fire in him. He has been an actor in serials, movies, and short films which came his way, other than being a Media & Event Consultant. He has won Best Male Jock while being a Radio Jock in Malayalam and has voiced several thousand radio commercials.
Born to Tamil Brahmin parents A. K. Venugopalan and R. Bhagialakshmy in Kerala, Kriss grew to fame being a Radio Jock and Interviewer in the Middle East, though by Education he is a Civil Engineering Graduate with Masters in Applied Psychology and a Life member of the Indian Association of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis.
Early life[edit]
Kriss Venugopal was born on October 4, 1975 in Ernakulam, Kerala, India. He is the second child of R. Bhagialakshmy, a house wife, and A. K. Venugopalan, a Chartered Accountant, belonging to a socially acclaimed family in Kochi. The family hails from Thanjavur, who moved to Palakkad and subsequently to Kochi in Kerala.
His parents moved from Kochi to Bangalore and then back to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala during the mid-eighties where Kriss had his schooling. During his childhood he showed avid interest in arts and held his first painting exhibition at Rama Varma Club, Ernakulam under the able tutelage of his drawing tutor Mr. Vijayan of Adarsh School of Arts. Trained in Classical (Carnatic) Violin and in Hindustani Singing under Pt. Ramesh Narayan, media always was a passion to him.
Kriss attended Christ Nagar English High School and Government Arts College, before attending the College of Engineering, Trivandrum. After his Pre Degree course with an interest in pursuing a career as a Pilot in the Indian Air Force, Kriss cleared his SSB for NDA, but had to forego the dream owing to family pressures. He holds a first class degree in Civil Engineering, A post graduate diploma in Environmental Protection Management from National Institute of Environment and Ecology, Kakinada; A Masters in Applied Psychology and Life Member of the Indian Association of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis. He still remains passionate about continuing his learning further. His love for languages made him conversant in English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Urdu other than his mother tongue Tamil. He went on stage as a compere for many functions even during college days and has even been a part of an Orchestra as a singer and mimicry artist. Later in life, he has also staged a solo gazal performance at The Global Village, Dubai.
Career[edit]
Kriss began his career in media by appearing in television series in the late 1990s and at the same time being a ramp model, soon after graduating from College of Engineering Trivandrum as a Civil Engineer. He went on to be a TV host and quiz master on Asianet Television. He also did a few roles with a negative shade in various television series, such as the soap opera Alippazham, Megham and Sthree oru Santhwanam. It was during that time, when his voice gave him an opportunity to be a dubbing artist in Soap Operas.
Then in 2004, he started to pursue a 11 year long active Radio career in the middle east where fame reached him, giving him a rewarding time in life. Over the years he was selected Voice of the year (2014), Best Male Jock (2007) and has to his credit over 650 Interviews featuring International and National personalities. He spent over 15000 hours on air on Radio in Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil. A voice artist who has done over 4500 commercials and stationalities for Radio and TV, he went on to be a voice coach for budding talents. He gained public recognition with his jocking in Dubai based Malayalam Radio Station Hit 96.7 FM, and went on to jock in City 101.6 in Hindi, subsequently becoming the content head of Hello FM 89.5 in Tamil and the programming head in Radio Me 100.3 in Malayalam between the years 2004 and 2015.
He debuted in Mollywood by starring as Kriss with the Malayalam film by Director Rajasenan, "Radio Jockey" (2015). He also starred in Malayalam films like Munnariyippu [2][3], Madhuranaranga, E, Poottu, Lonappante Mamodisa and Arabuthaakku & Pasumaadu in Tamil, which are yet to be released.
As an Author his first book was "Aatmavicaram" in English and went on to author two books in Malayalam and Tamil "Shirolikhitham" and "Mouna porvayil manathu" respectively. He was authored two novels too, "All you need is a hug" and "All you need is love". Kriss has also written short films which won him accolades and acted in a few award winning short films in Malayalam.
Along with media, as a practicing hypnotherapist, Kriss runs a hypnotherapy clinic under the name "Key 2 Minds" and is a partner in running a stress management service provider "La Liberta", along with Ratheesh Sukumaran, helping individuals to corporates cope up stress in life.
Radio[edit]
- Hit 96.7 FM (2004 – 09) – Malayalam
- City 1016 (2008) – Hindi
- Radio Hello 89.5 (2010-11) – Tamil
- Radio Me 100.3 (2011-14) – Malayalam
As an Author[edit]
- Aatmavicaram [4] in English
- Mouna porvayil manathu in Tamil
- Shirolikhitham in Malayalam
- Columnist in International Malayali Magazine
- Feature writer in “Beyond Borders” International Online Magazine
- All you need is a Hug (Releasing on May 1, 2019) in English
- All you need is Love (Releasing on May 1, 2019) in English
- All you need is a Bedtime Story (Coming soon) in English
- All you need is Care (Writing in progress)
- Till 1947… in 1947 words (Publishing soon) in English
- Anklets do speak of love in (Soon Available in Kindle) in English
- God Spoke Thus (Publishing soon) in English
On Stage as a Compere[edit]
- Fest 96
- Vismayam 98
- Miss Kerala 2002
- Lux Asianet Film Awards
- Mammootty HIT Parade 2005
- Gulf Malayalam Music Awards
- Amrita Film Awards 2012
- Pravasolsavam 2014
- Haritha Chandrika 2016
Television Series and Shows[edit]
- Akkarapacha (Serial by Sreekumaran Thampi) – as Doctor
- Alippazham (Serial by Saji Surendran) – as Benny Tharakan
- Sthree oru santhwanam (Serial) – as Keeri
- Megham (Serial by Saji Surendran) – as Inspector Stalin
- Asianet DSF Live Telequiz (2 seasons)
- Media One Tea Talk (100 episodes)
- Pravasiyude Perunnal (Media One in Malayalam)
- Global Village Highlights (Asianet in Malayalam)
- Global VIllage Highlights (Imagine Movies in Hindi)
- Career Digest (Asianet)
Short Films[edit]
- The Letters (English) – Writer & Director
- Rat Race (Malayalam) – Actor
- Something Between us (Malayalam) – Actor
- Aaro Oraal (Malayalam) – Actor (Won many awards at different festivals)
- Soliloquy (Malayalam / Silent) – Script Writer (Won Best Director and Script Writer at Nottam Film Festival 2018, Kuwait)
- Ekantham (Malayalam) – Voice Actor as Ekanthatha (Won many awards at different festivals)
- Ammu (Malayalam) – Actor
Filmography[edit]
- Radio Jockey by Rajasenan (2013) (As Chris and Narrator)
- Munnariyippu by Venu ISC (2014) (As Publisher)
- Madhuranaranga by Sugeeth (2015) (As Bar Manager)
- Poottu by Rajeevnath (2017) (As Venu)
- E by Kukku Surendran, Sangeeth Sivan and Ameen Surani (2018) (As Bhargavan)
- Arabuthaakku by Francis (2019) (As the Arab father)
- Pasumaadu G.G. Reddy Production (2018) (as Guru)
- Lonappante Mamodisa by Leo Thaddeus (2019) (As Chris)
- 18 aam Padi by Shankar Ramakrishnan (2019) (As Coach)
- Thelivu by M. A. Nishad (2019) (As Pathradhipan Venu)
Awards[edit]
- Voice of the year 2014
- Best Male Radio Jock 2007 awarded at Frequency 2007 – Dubai
- Best Employee – HIT 96.7 FM from Arab Media Group
- Best Rotaractor 1997 & Best Project Chairman – Aids Awareness Campaign 1997
- Best Male Model 1995
Personal life[edit]
After long 14 years in Dubai, UAE as a Media personality, Kriss now lives in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Once married to his erstwhile college love, Kriss got separated and marriage nulled in 2007. He is now married again, and his wife works in Dubai, UAE.
References[edit]
Kriss Venugopal[edit]
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