Suriya

Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known professionally as Suriya, is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Tamil films. One of the highest-paid Tamil actors, Suriya is considered as one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. Suriya has received numerous accolades including two National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South and five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. He has featured six times in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list.

After making his debut in Nerukku Ner (1997) at the age of 22, Suriya landed his breakthrough role in Nandhaa (2001) and then had his first major commercial success with the thriller Kaakha Kaakha (2003). Following award-winning performances of a conman in Pithamagan (2003) and a hunchback in Perazhagan (2004), he played a man suffering from anterograde amnesia in the 2005 blockbuster Ghajini. He rose to stardom with dual roles of a father and son in Gautham Vasudev Menon's semi-autobiographical Vaaranam Aayiram (2008). His status as an action star was established with roles of a smuggler in Ayan (2009), and an aggressive cop in the Singam trilogy. He also found success with the science fiction films 7 Aum Arivu (2011) and 24 (2016) and then went on to work in critically acclaimed films like Soorarai Pottru (2020) and Jai Bhim (2021), the former of which earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor.

Suriya is the elder son of actor Sivakumar and his younger brother Karthi is also an actor. In 2006, he married actress Jyothika whom he co-starred with in 7 films. He began Agaram Foundation, which funds various philanthropic activities, later that year. The year 2012 marked his debut as a television presenter with the Star Vijay game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, the Tamil version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. In 2013, Suriya founded the production house 2D Entertainment.

Suriya was born as Saravanan on 23 July 1975 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, to actor Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. Suriya has two younger siblings, a brother Karthi, who is an actor and a sister Brindha, who is a playback singer. His mother tongue is Tamil.

Suriya attended Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai. He later obtained his under graduate degree in B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai.

Prior to his career in films, Suriya worked at a garment exports factory for eight months. He did not reveal himself to his boss as Sivakumar's son, but his boss ultimately learnt the truth himself. He was initially offered the lead role by Vasanth in his film Aasai (1995), but he rejected the offer citing a lack of interest in an acting career and the offer went to Ajith Kumar. He later debuted in Vasanth's 1997 film Nerrukku Ner, produced by Mani Ratnam when he was 22 years of age. The stage name "Suriya" was bestowed to him by Ratnam to avoid a clash of names with established actor Saravanan. The name "Suriya" was frequently used for characters in Ratnam's films. Vijay, who co-starred with him in the film, would also go on to become a leading contemporary actor in Kollywood.

This was followed by a series of roles in commercially unsuccessful films in the late 1990s. In 1998, he starred in the romantic film Kaadhale Nimmadhi. In July the same year, he had another release Sandhippoma. Subsequently, he acted with Vijayakanth in the film Periyanna (1999), directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. That year, he also appeared opposite Jyothika in Poovellam Kettuppar. A critic from The New Indian Express noted, "The-romantic part has little novelty, but Jyothika and Surya perform with bouncy exuberance." His only release in 2000 was Uyirile Kalanthathu, again opposite Jyothika. Suriya confessed that he struggled due to lack of confidence, memory power, fighting or dancing skills in his early career, but it was actor Raghuvaran, one of his mentors, who advised him to create his own identity, rather than stay under his father's shadow.

This series of failures was broken in 2001 when Suriya starred in two box office successes. He first starred in Siddique's comedy film Friends, also co-starring Vijay. His major break came with the action drama Nandhaa, which was directed by Bala. Playing the role of an ex-convict who is very attached to his mother, he received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his performance, in addition to his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. S. R. Ashok Kumar from The Hindu noted, "Suriya as the young rustic man has reached a new milestone in acting." Suriya had three film releases in 2002: the romantic drama Unnai Ninaithu opposite Laila and Sneha, the action drama Sri opposite Shrutika and Gayatri Jayaraman, and the romantic drama Mounam Pesiyadhe opposite Trisha. His performance in Mounam Pesiyadhe received positive response and earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.