R. Sarathkumar

Ramanathan Sarathkumar (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician and former bodybuilder who works predominantly in Tamil cinema in addition to Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. He has acted in more than 150 films and won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.

Originally a bodybuilder and later journalist, in 1986, Sarathkumar started his acting career in the Telugu film Samajamlo Sthree. He first acted in negative roles, and later played supporting roles before establishing himself as a lead actor in subsequent years, earning him the titles Super Hero and Supreme Star in Tamil cinema.

In 2007, he launched a new political party All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) in Tamil Nadu, claiming to carry out the ideals of K. Kamaraj. He is the former Member of Legislative Assembly of Tenkasi constituency. He served as the president of the Nadigar Sangam from 2006 to 2015 for three consecutive terms.

R. Sarathkumar has been married twice. His first marriage was with Chaya Devi in 1984 and the couple had two daughters, Varalaxmi (born 1985) and Pooja (born 1987). Varalaxmi is an actress in the South Indian film industry.

While still married to Chaya, Sarathkumar had a highly publicised affair with actress Nagma during the mid-1990s. Sarathkumar and Chaya got divorced in 2000.

Sarathkumar married actress Radhika in 2001. They were friends when they worked together in Kargil, they also paired in two films: Namma Annachi and Suryavamsam. The couple has a son named Rahul, who was born in 2004. He has also a stepdaughter, Rayanne Hardy, who was born to his wife Radhika with her ex-husband, Richard Hardy, in 1992. She married cricketer Abhimanyu Mithun, on 28 August 2016.

Sarathkumar was born on 14 July 1954 to Ramanathan and Pushpaleela, a Tamil family in New Delhi. His father Ramanathan worked at the All India Radio before joining the Press Information Bureau of India, while his mother Pushpaleela was a housewife. Sarathkumar is the youngest child in his family, he had two siblings; an elder brother, the late Sudarshan Ramanathan and an elder sister Mallika Kandaswamy. His mother Pushpaleela died on 26 October 2013.

Sarathkumar started his schooling at the Raja Muthiah High School, after his family relocated from Delhi to Chennai. He then moved on to the Central School in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and finished at St. Patrick's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. Being an avid sports enthusiast, he played football, cricket and hockey, representing his school and college teams. He also joined the NCC, becoming an Air Wing Cadet. He was one of the cadets who marched in the Republic Day Parade of 1970. After completing his pre-university levels at Loyola College, he was subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from The New College.