Monish Nagaraj, known by his screen name Rishi, is an Indian actor, who works mainly in Kannada cinema. An engineering graduate, he was an active theatre artist before venturing into the Kannada film industry. He rose to fame with the 2017 blockbuster film Operation Alamelamma.^[3]

Rishi was born in Bangalore and brought up in Mysore, Karnataka. His father K. C. Nagaraj was a bank official working in Kaveri Grameena Bank and his mother Anala Nagaraj, is a home maker. His birth name is Monish Nagaraj.^[4] He did his schooling from St Joseph's Primary School, Mysore and Pre - University course from Marimallappa 's College, Mysore. He went on to attend Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore, pursuing a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering.^[5]

During his engineering days, Rishi developed a keen interest in acting and started performing with various amateur theatre groups in Mysore. He was in charge of the dramatics team at his college and also worked as a Radio Jockey outside.^[6]

Through campus placement upon graduation, Rishi got a job in a company and entered a brief corporate stint. Following this, he quit his job to become an entrepreneur in the retail interiors and merchandising field.

He then got an opportunity to appear in T. N. Seetharam's Mahaparva. Rishi continued to perform with established theatre groups in Bangalore until he got an opportunity to appear in a television daily, Anuroopa,^[7] which was telecast on Star Suvarna. His character portrayal in the serial won him Best Actor consecutively for two years at the Star Suvarna Parivar awards.