Madhavan Nair commonly known by his stage name Madhu, is an actor in Malayalam cinema. He was a prominent lead actor during the 1960s and 1970s. He has also directed and produced films, and at one time he owned Uma film studio. He was awarded with Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013. He won four Filmfare Awards for his entire acting career. He was born on 23 September 1933 in Gowrishapattom, Trivandrum, Travancore. He had expressed all faces of life through his various movie characters. But his best was the performance in Chemmeen. Ramu Karyat directed Chemmeen and also received the President's Gold Medal for it. It was based on Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai's novel. The tragic character Pareekkutty was perfectly safe in the hands of Madhu. He expressed all the nuances of this delicate character smoothly. Pareekkutty brought a big break in his acting career. At the time it was common for a Malayali person to render the dialogs (in the movie) of Pareekkutty.

Later he distinguished himself as producer, director and storywriter. The screen name of Madhu was given by Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, another famous Malayalam Actor. In an acting career spanning four decades, Madhu acted in over 300 films. But initial years were of struggle as Madhu entered Malayalam Cinema while Prem Nazir and Sathyan, two great stars, were ruling the roost. Later Madhu captured his own place. Later he was lucky to pursue his profession with many generations like Sukumaran-M G Soman, Mammooty-Mohanlal, Dileep, Jayaram. Madhu has also done a couple of Tamil films, as Rajinikanth 's father in Dharma Dorai and the 2007 release Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan.