NADIPPIN NAYAGAN SURYA

Born	23 July 1975 (age 36)[1] Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Film actor, producer, television presenter
Years active	1997 – present
Spouse	Jyothika Sadanah
Children	Diya Dev
Parents	Sivakumar Palanisamy Lakshmi Sivakumar
Relatives	Karthi Sivakumar (brother)

Suriya (Tamil: சூர்யா; born 23 July 1975 as Saravanan Sivakumar) is an Indian film actor, producer, philanthropist and television presenter. He has acted in several Tamil films, including the commercially successful films Nandha (2001), Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Pithamagan (2003), Perazhagan (2004), Ghajini (2005), Vel (2007), Vaaranam Aayiram (2008), Ayan (2009), Singam (2010) and 7aum Arivu (2011). As of 2010,^[2] he has won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards, establishing himself as one of the leading contemporary actors in the Tamil film industry.
He became a film distributor after opening Studio Green, which was responsible for producing and distributed a few of his own and his brother Karthi's films. He is the eldest son of actor Sivakumar and married actress Jyothika in 2006, after being engaged for several years. In 2008, he began Agaram Foundation, which funds for preventing early childhood drop-outs.^[3] As of 2012, Suriya is the host of the STAR Vijay game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi.

Early life....

Suriya was born to actor Sivakumar and Lakshmi in Chennai. He is the eldest of three children, his younger brother is actor Karthi and he has a younger sister named Brindha Sivakumar. He attended Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School ^[4] and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai^[5] and obtained his under graduate degree B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai.

Career

Early career: 1996–2002

Suriya debuted in the 1996 film Nerrukku Ner directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam.^[6] In 2001, he starred in Siddique's comedy film Friends.
His major break came in the form of Nandha, which was directed by Bala. Playing the role of an ex-convict who is very attached to his mother, he received a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.^[7] His next venture was Vikraman's Unnai Ninaithu, which was followed by Mounam Pesiyadhe directed by Ameer Sultan.

Breakthrough: 2003–07

In 2003, he starred in the Gautham Menon-directed Kaakha Kaakha, a film about the life of a police officer. He then starred in his second Bala directorial, Pithamagan, along with Vikram, portraying a happy-go-lucky village crook with a comic touch, for which he received a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Since he was shooting for these two films in 2003, he had to turn down a lead role in Autograph, which eventually was played by its director Cheran himself.^[8] In 2004 he received a Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing two roles in Perazhagan: an aggressive boxer and a handicapped phone booth keeper became successful venture in box-office. Later that year, he starred in Mani Ratnam's political drama Aayutha Ezhuthu, which was based on George Reddy, a student leader in Hyderabad during the late 60s and early 80s.
In 2005, he appeared in Ghajini and then in Aaru. He played the role of a patient suffering from short-term memory loss in the former. Due to his commitment to Ghajini, he was said to have missed a role in the Bollywood film Rang De Basanti.^[9] In 2006, he acted with Jyothika and Bhoomika in N. Krishna's film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. In 2007, his only release was Vel, which released for Diwali

Vaaranam Aayiram and Bollywood: 2008–2011

His next release was a collaboration with Gautham Menon, after the success of Kaakha Kaakha, Suriya began work on Menon's biopic Vaaranam Aayiram in November 2008.^[11] Playing dual roles for the third time in his career, Suriya appeared as father and son, with both characters also demanding scenes shot throughout their lives ranging from scenes as a 16-year-old to scenes as a 65-year-old. During the production of the film, Suriya described the project as "unique" and "straight from the heart", describing the physical hardships he endured during the making.^[12] He lost weight and prepared a six pack for the film through an eight-month fitness regime without steroids, with the move being a trend-setter for other leading actors from South India.^[13][14] The film, which also featured Simran, Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana in prominent roles, became commercially successful at the box office upon release as well as receiving positive reviews from film critics, with Suriya's performance being lauded. A critic from Rediff labelled the film as his "magnum opus", citing that he is "perfect" and that the film for him is a "justified triumph".^[15] Similarly, critics cited Suriya's performance as "outstanding" and claimed that the film "works because of his performance", whilst other reviewers claimed the film was an "out and out Suriya show".^[16][17] His portrayals also fetched him several notable awards, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor, a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor by the jury and also the Vijay Award for Best Actor for 2008.^[18] The film also went on to receive a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for 2008.
In 2009, Suriya's first release was K. V. Anand's action-thriller Ayan, which went on to become the highest grossing Tamil film of the year. With Suriya portraying the role of a smuggler, the film also featured Prabhu as his guardian and Tamannaah Bhatia as the lead actress. The film was shot extensively across Tanzania, Namibia, Malaysia and India and featured parkour stunts by Suriya, without the use of a stunt double.^[20] Upon release, the film won positive reviews citing that the film was a "must watch" and Suriya's performance was yet again acclaimed and he found himnominated for leading awards and won the Vijay Award for Entertainer of the Year.^[21] The film's success saw Suriya emerge as the most profitable leadingactor in Tamil films, following a hat trick of large commercial hits, with film journals suggesting that his success was due to "experiments within the commercial format" and he was successful in "avoiding being typecast".^[22]
His next release was Aadhavan directed by K. S. Ravikumar. In 2010, he had his 25th release with Singam, directed by Hari, in which he played the role of a police officer from a small village. The film went on to become the second highest grossing film of the year.^[23] He made his Bollywood debut in Ram Gopal Varma's two-part political drama Rakta Charitra in 2010, following which he appeared in cameo roles as himself in the films Manmadhan Ambu (2010) and Avan Ivan (2011). His only release in 2011 that featured him in a starring role was A. R. Murugadoss's science fiction thriller 7aum Arivu. Suriya essayed dual roles in the film, as a circus artist and as the Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma, who lived in the 5th century. The film met with mixed reception, but Suriya's performance was praised. 7aum Arivu became the actor's highest grosser, and subsequently among the top grossing films of the year

Personal life

After several years of being engaged, Suriya married actress Jyothika on 11 September 2006,^[32] with whom he was paired in seven films; Poovellam Kettuppar, Uyirile Kalanthathu, Kaakha Kaakha, Perazhagan, Maayavi, June R and Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. The couple have two children, daughter Diya (born in August 2007 )^[33] and son Dev (born in June 2010)