Tamil star Suriya once hid his famous father while working in a garment factory
Before acting, Saravanan Sivakumar spent eight months in a garment export factory without telling his boss that his father was the film star Sivakumar. He even turned down a lead role. Mani Ratnam later gave him the screen name Suriya, and he became one of the highest-paid actors in Tamil cinema.
Suriya was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 23 July 1975, the eldest child of the actor Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi; his brother Karthi also acts and his sister Brindha is a playback singer. He studied commerce at Loyola College. When the director Vasanth first offered him the lead in Aasai (1995), he declined for lack of interest, and the part went to Ajith Kumar. He finally debuted at 22 in Vasanth's Nerukku Ner (1997), produced by Mani Ratnam, who renamed him to avoid a clash with an established actor called Saravanan.
The late 1990s brought a string of flops, and he later admitted he lacked confidence, memory for lines, and fighting or dancing skills. The actor Raghuvaran, a mentor, urged him to build his own identity rather than live in his father's shadow. The turn came in 2001 with Bala's Nandhaa, playing an ex-convict devoted to his mother, which won a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, and then Kaakha Kaakha (2003), his first real blockbuster, a police story made with Gautham Vasudev Menon.
What followed was a run of transformations. In Perazhagan he played both a hot-headed boxer and a disabled phone booth keeper, winning his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Tamil. Ghajini (2005) cast him as a businessman with anterograde amnesia and made him one of the best-paid stars in the industry. For Vaaranam Aayiram (2008) he played father and son across ages from 16 to 65, following an eight-month fitness regime without steroids.
He then settled into action. Ayan (2009), shot across Tanzania, Namibia, Malaysia and India with his own stunts, was the top-grossing Tamil film of its year, and Singam (2010), his 25th film, launched a police trilogy. Later work included Soorarai Pottru (2020), which brought a National Film Award for Best Actor. Off screen he started the philanthropic Agaram Foundation in 2006, founded 2D Entertainment in 2013 and married the actress Jyothika, his co-star in seven films.
Source: Suriya
