Suriya

Surya Sivakumar
File:Suryasivakumar.jpg
Born	Saravanan Sivakumar
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1997-Present
Spouse(s)	Jyothika Saravanan (2006-present)

Saravanan "Surya" Sivakumar (Tamil: சரவணன் "சூர்யா" சிவகுமார்) (born July 23, 1975) is a successful Tamil film actor who has won several awards and critical acclaims for various roles. He is the son of Tamil actor Sivakumar and is married to Jyothika Saravanan, a popular former Tamil actress. He is well-known for his versatile roles in various films. He starred in several noted films such as Nandha, Kaakha Kaakha, Ghajini, Perazhagan, Pithamagan and Vaaranam Aayiram.

Recently Behindwoods released a Rankings of Top 20 Actors of Kollywood. Surya got 4th place in the Rankings while Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Vijay are in Top three Places.

Early life

Surya was born to the renowned veteran Tamil actor Sivakumar. He is the eldest of three children, younger brother being the award-winning actor Karthik Sivakumar and a younger sister named Brindha Sivakumar.

He first studied in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School, Chennai. He went to the Prestigious St. Bede's School in Chennai. He graduated from Loyola College with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and worked for a few years in the garment industry, before foraying into the film industry. He shares a friendship with Tamil film actor Joseph Vijay who was his classmate in college. They even acted together in two films (Nerukku Ner, Friends)

Career

His debut film, Nerrukku Ner (1997) with Vijay was a big hit but all his succeeding films did not do well. His first reasonable success was in the movie with Vijay, Friends. But he did not get any big breaks and his career seemed to be stalled until director Bala approached him for a role in his next venture titled Nandha, which eventually became his first critically acclaimed film and earning him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.

Surya’s next venture was with Vikraman in the movie Unnai Ninaithu and the movie was able to record good collections. This was followed by Mounam Pesiyadhe which also did decently well. Surya’s second blockbuster was Kaaka Kaaka, a movie about the life of a police officer. The film grossed almost100 million at the box office. This movie raised the profile of Surya tremendously and made him a huge star overnight. This was also the movie that fueled intense speculation of his relationship with fellow co-star Jyothika. This was partly due to the strength of the screen chemistry shared by both of them on screen. Also Pithamagan alongside Vikram was a big hit, in which Surya was appreciated for playing a happy-go-lucky village guy and thus proving his skills as a comedian too. In the movie Perazhagan, Surya acted in two roles, one as a boxer and the other as a handicapped but a confident phone booth keeper. His role as the handicapped was praised by critics, and he received a Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his performance. His role in Aayitha Ezhuthu as a student leader was also favoured by the critics.

In 2005, Surya delivered more successful films in the form of Aaru and Ghajini - afterwards he set up a production company called Studio Green which distributed the movie in the Chennai district. Ghajini was one of the most sensational hits of 2005, with Surya playing a short term memory loss patient, for which he even tonsured his head.

Surya's 2006 release was N. Krishna's Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. He acted opposite his real-life partner Jyothika in the film. The film was an average grosser.The songs from the movie became a bigger hit than the movie itself. In 2007, Surya's solitary release was Vel. His latest film was the critically acclaimed Vaaranam Aayiram, another venture with Gautham Menon, released on November 14, 2008 and became a blockbuster receiving a large reception.

Surya's next film is Ayan directed by K. V. Anand, expected to be released in 2009. Following Ayan, Surya will be casted in Aadhavan directed by K. S. Ravikumar, followed by Singam directed by Hari, who directs Surya for the third time. Surya will also be acting in a film titled Mugamoodi, which is expected to be a superhero film.

Personal life

Surya married actress Jyothika Saravanan on September 11, 2006 in a star-studded, traditional wedding ceremony at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Chennai. The couple is widely recognized as an extremely popular celebrity couple in South India. Their daughter Diya was born on August 10, 2007.

Agaram Foundations

In 2008, Surya began his own campaign, named Agaram Foundations, of eliminating children who drop out of school early in Tamil Nadu. Joining hands with the Ministry of Education in Tamil Nadu, he created a short commercial video outlining child poverty, labour and lack of education, titled Herova? Zerova?. The film was written and produced by Surya himself, also starring Joseph Vijay, his wife Jyothika Sadanah and R. Madhavan.

Awards

• Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor in Nandha (2002)
• Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Perazhagan (2005)
• Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in Pithamagan (2003)
• Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor in Ghajini (2006)
• Kalaimamani Award
• Reliance Mobile Vijay Awards for Icon of the Year (2007)

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Nerrukku Ner	Surya
1998	Kaadhale Nimmadhi	Chandru
	Sandhippoma	Surya
1999	Periyanna	Surya
	Poovellam Kettuppar	Krishna
2000	Uyirile Kalanthathu	Surya
2001	Friends	Chandru
	Nandha	Nandha	Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
2002	Unnai Ninaithu	Surya
	Shree	Shree
	Mounam Pesiyadhe	Gautham
2003	Kaakha Kaakha	Anbuselvan
	Pithamagan	Sakthi	Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Supporting Actor Award
2004	Perazhagan	Karthik, Chinna	Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
	Aayitha Ezhuthu	Michael
2005	Maayavi	Balayya
	Ghajini	Sanjay Ramasamy	Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Special Award for Best Actor
	Aaru	Aaru
	June R	Raja	Guest appearance
2006	Sillunu Oru Kaadhal	Gautham
2007	Vel	Vetrivel, Vasudevan
2008	Kuselan	Himself	Cameo appearance
	Vaaranam Aayiram	Krishnan, Surya
2009	Ayan	Deva	Releasing April 3rd
	Aadhavan		Filming
	Mugamoodi		Announced
	Singam		Announced