Girish Raghunath Karnad (lang-kn?????? ?????? ????????) (born 19 May 1938) is a contemporary writer, playwright, actor and movie director (Film Director) in Kannada language. He is the latest of seven recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada (Kannada language), the highest literary honour conferred in India.

For four decades Karnad has been composing plays (Play (theatre)), often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues.His plays has been directed by eminent directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan and Amal Allana. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema (Cinema of India) working as an actor, director (Film Director), and screenwriter, earning numerous awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.