Born on October 27, 1968 in Desom, Aluva, Ernakulam, Kerala. His original name is Gopala Krishnan. He studied in VVBHS high school (passed 10th Standard in 1985) and joined Aluva U.C. College (Pre-degree 1985-1987) and then moved on to Ernakulam Maharajas College. His talent for acting was not known in school and college where he rarely won any accolades or merits. Gopalakrishnan was an average student. During 1985-1987 he first performed as a mimicry artist in U.C. college. On joining Maharajas college for B.A. Economics in 1989 Gopalakrishnan started to take mimicry seriously. At that time Mimicry was only getting its roots in Kerala and it had a bright future. When Dileep finished his studies in M.A. History, he decided to choose art as his profession. "I didn't even dream of such a success. God is working so many miracles", says Dileep. However, watching movies has always been Dileep's favorite hobby. He never selects the movies to watch and is interested in all types and languages of films. As different movies have different moods all movies are good according to him. Comedy and action movies are his favorites. However, whether he watches the movie on television or in the theatre he never takes the trouble to study more of movie making. He has never participated in any film festival. He enjoys watching television too and says it is fun to keep surfing channels. His Journey to Success : Dileep ventured out of his comedy track sometimes and got critically acclaimed. His role in the offbeat film Kadhavaseshan(2004) was well appreciated. His role as a transvestite man from the family of fishermen in Chanthupottu (2005) won him many accolades, including special jury award of the Kerala State Film Awards. He fared as an action hero in Runway(2004), Kochirajavu(2005), Lion(2006), Chess(2006), DON(2006). Through Runway ,Kochirajavu, Lion, Chess and DON he showed his power to do thrilling action roles. His first film with the acclaimed director Sathyan Anthikkad, titled Vinodayathra, was released in April 2007. It is one of the appreciated Malayalam movie hits of the year 2007. He then came with director Blessy's Calcutta News (2007), a story with social problems of present day, which reveals many cheating of a famous city, gave him so many appreciation from world wide. We witnessed another remarkable performance of Dileep in 2009 through Renjith Sanker's Passenger, P.Sukumar's SWALE - A realistic Movie and Siddique's, BODY GUARD in 2010. Another historical move he made, is with the Production of Multi Star Mega Movie Twenty-20. Dileep Produced the movie under his own home Production GRAAND PRODUCTIONS in association with AMMA and distributed through his Company, MANJU NATHA Release. The movie broke all the previous collection records of entire Malayalam Film History & created Box Office Records. The movie contains all the Prominent stars of Malayalam Cinema including Dileep, directed by veteran Director JOSHIY, scripted By Sibi-Uday. Through this cinema he himself proved to be one of the best Producer who take challenges and knows how to conquer the minds of audience. In 2011 Dileep got his first ever Kerala State Best Actor Award for his memorable performance in Vellaripravinte Changaathi. His passion for doing variety roles still continues and the female role in Mayamohini and cleft lip charater in upcoming movie Sound Thoma are results of that. Also Dileep has been signed for his first ever multi lingual movie Baba Sathya Sai which is based on the life of Sathya Sai Baba. Family Life: Dileep was born in Alwaye near Ernakulam to Late Sri. Padmanabhan Pillai and Sarojam. He did his pre-degree at U.C. College and graduated from Maharajas College , Ernakulam. He is happily married to Manju Warrier and has a daughter, Meenakshi. The former Malayalam cinema actress Manju Warrier, she has shown extra ordinary talent in dance. She was "kalathilakam" in Kerala youth festival for 2 years. When she was 15, she acted in the movie with Dileep, "Sallapam" which was a super hit. Since then she acted in more than 50 malayalam movies. Manju Warrier has been hailed as one of the brightest star in Malayalam cinema. Manju got married to Dileep on 20th October 1998 at Alwaye Sri Krishna Temple. Manju Warrier was the leading female actor in the malayalam cinema industry at that time and she chose not to act after marriage. Now she live in Alwaye with Dileep and Daughter Meenakshi.