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Pratap K. Pothen, popularly known by his first name Pratap, is an Indian actor, director, writer, producer who has acted in about 100 films. He has acted in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu as well as Hindi films. His directional ventures were in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

His father Kolathinkal Pothen was a well known business man of Thiruvananthapuram. He did his schooling from, Lawrence School, Lovedale, in Ooty. He finished Schooling in 1968. His elder brother Hari Pothen is also a film producer was married to then famous actress Jayabharathi for a short while. His father died when he was 15. The youngest of five children, he grew up in a household where art, politics, entertainment and business co-existed, allowing him to experience a large cross-section of life from his ancestral home in Trivandrum in Kerala.

Pratap was married twice. His first marriage was with leading actress Raadhika in 1985 and subsequently they divorced in 1986. His second marriage was with Amala Satyanath in 1990, a senior corporate professional and they have an daughter Keya born in 1991. Later they got separated and divorced in 2012.

Pratap gained admission to Madras Christian College (MCC), Madras. Pratap remained friends with those he went to school and MCC with. His friends helped him act in plays at college and his interest turned to acting from painting.
He left MCC with a B.A in economics in 1972. Pratap started to work as a copywriter in an ad agency in Mumbai. After a year, he joined Sistas ad agency. Later he worked for Hindustan Thomson.

During the late sixties and early seventies, armed with a boarding school education from Ooty and awakened by an amazing bohemian experience gained \'chasing the wind\' during his college days at MCC in Madras, the young Prathap went about shedding his shy schoolboy skin and embracing a culture of theatre and art.

Pratap acted with The Madras Players. The late director Bharathan enjoyed Pratap\'s performance in Shaw\'s play Androcles and the Lion, and invited him to act in his Malayalam film Aaravam. Pratap acted in critically acclaimed films like \'Thakara\' and \'Chamaram\'. Chamaram dealt with the tumultuous affair between a student and his college lecturer.

Films like Nenjathai Killathe, Panneer Pushpangal, Moodupani and Varumayin Niram Sivappu made Pratap famous in Tamil also.