Captain Raju is a Malayalam film actor. He has acted in more than 500 films in the languages of Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and English. He is best noted for his performance in character roles, and as a villain. Raju also appears in television serials and advertisements. He was born as second among seven children to K G Daniel and Annamma at Omallur, Pathanamthitta District, Kerala in 1950. He was a volleyball player. He pursued a degree in Zoology from Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta. After graduation, Raju joined the Indian Army as an officer at the age of 21 and rose to the rank of a captain. He worked as marketing chief at Glucose and starch manufacturing company, Lakshmi Starch, at Mumbai after serving 5 years of Indian army and later he left the job to act in films. While working at the company he started acting in amateur drama troupes like Prathiba theatres in Mumbai. He later moved to films. He made his directorial debut with the Malayalam film Etha Oru Snehagatha in 1997. His second film as director was Mr. Pavanayi 99.99 (2012) in which he reprised the role of Mr. Pavanayi, his character from 1987 Malayalam film Nadodikkattu. He is married to Prameela, and has a son, Ravi. He is a Christian by birth, but also respects other religions, and even visits the others' shrines.