Suriya

Suriya, the actor and television presenter Suriya

Suriya or Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. Suriya is best known for his work in Tamil cinema, where Suriya is one of the highest paid actors. Among his awards are three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South, two Edison Awards, a Cinema Express Award, a CineMAA Award and a Vijay Award. Based on the earnings of Indian celebrities, Suriya has been included in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list six times.

After making his debut in Nerukku Ner (1997), Suriya landed his breakthrough role in Nandha (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), Suriya played a man suffering from anterograde amnesia, in the 2005 blockbuster Ghajini. Suriya 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. Suriya also found success with the science fiction films 7aum Arivu (2011) and 24 (2016). Suriya then went on to work in critically acclaimed films like Soorarai Pottru (2020) and Jai Bhim (2021).

Suriya is the eldest child of actor Sivakumar and his younger brother Karthi is also an actor. Suriya married co-star Jyothika in 2006. In 2008, Suriya began Agaram Foundation, which funds various philanthropic activities. 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.