Vijay Sethupathi

Vijay Gurunatha Sethupathi (born 16 January 1978) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil films.

He is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, two Filmfare Awards South and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

He has also worked in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada language films.

Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi was born on 16 January 1978 and was raised in Rajapalayam until he moved to Chennai in class six.

He lived in Ennore located in North Chennai.

He attended the MGR Higher Secondary School in Kodambakkam and Little Angels Mat.

Hr. Sec. School.

According to Sethupathi, he was a "below-average student right from school" and was neither interested in sports nor extra-curricular activities.

At age 16, he auditioned for a role in Nammavar (1994), but was rejected due to his short height.

Sethupathi did a series of odd jobs for pocket money: salesman at a retail store, cashier at a fast food joint and a phone booth operator.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Dhanraj Baid Jain College (an affiliate of the University of Madras) in Thoraipakam.

A week after he finished college, he joined as an account assistant at a wholesale cement business.

He had to take care of three siblings and moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates as an accountant because it paid him four times more than what he was making in India.

While in Dubai, he met his future-wife, Jessie, online.

The two dated, eventually marrying in 2003.

Unhappy with his job, he returned to India in 2003.

After a brief stint in the interior decoration business with friends, he joined a marketing company that dealt with readymade kitchens when he saw Koothupattarai's poster.

He recalled director Balu Mahendra remarking that he had a "very photogenic face", and motivated him to pursue an acting career; however he never cast Sethupathi in his films.

He subsequently joined the Chennai-based theatre group Koothu-P-Pattarai as an accountant and actor where he observed actors from close quarters.

He made his beginnings as a background actor, particularly playing the role of the lead character's friend in a few films.

He also acted in television series, including the well-known series Penn that began in March 2006, as well as several short films as part of the television show Nalaya Iyakunar for Kalaignar TV.

He worked with Karthik Subbaraj on many short films, who later cast him in his first feature film, subsequently yield him the Best Actor award for one of his films at the Norway Tamil Film Festival short film competition.

Sethupathi accompanied a group of actors who went to director Selvaraghavan's studio to audition for his gangster film Pudhupettai (2006) and was selected to play Dhanush's friend in the film.

After making an appearance in Prabu Solomon's Lee (2007), he was cast by director Suseenthiran in minor supporting roles in his first two projects, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009) and Naan Mahaan Alla (2010).

Sethupathi would later credit Suseenthiran with having had an "important role in helping him realise his dreams".

Following a stint as an NRI accountant in Dubai, Sethupathi started his film career working as a background actor and initially played minor supporting roles before his first lead role in Thenmerku Paruvakaatru (2010).

In 2010, he was associated with a Tamil-Kannada bilingual film called Akhaada.

While he was selected to play the lead in the Tamil version, the director offered him the antagonistic role in its Kannada version.

However, the film did not see a theatrical release.

Director Seenu Ramasamy identified Sethupathi's talent during the audition of his film and Sethupathi landed his first lead role in Ramasamy's drama film Thenmerku Paruvakaatru (2010), in which he portrayed a shepherd, the film went on to win three National Film Awards including the prize for the Best Tamil Feature Film of that year.

He played a character role of a man from a lower class in society in Varnam (2011).

In 2012, he rose to fame with Sundarapandian, Pizza and Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom.

2012 marked a turning point in Sethupathi's career; all his three releases were critical and commercial successes, resulting in a rise in his popularity.

He was first seen in a negative role in Sundarapandian which featured M. Sasikumar in the lead role, and then played the lead roles in the directorial debuts of Karthik Subbaraj and Balaji Tharaneetharan, the thriller film Pizza and the comedy entertainer Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, respectively.

He enacted the role of Michael, a delivery boy in the former and a young man named Prem who sustains short-term memory loss two days before his marriage in the latter, with his performance in both films being praised by critics.

Malini Mannath from The New Indian Express in her review of Pizza wrote: "Sethupathy, a delight to watch, carries the entire film on his shoulders. His voice perfectly modulated, he proves his versatility and acumen to handle any role. Michael's nightmarish experience, and his fear and horror when he's trapped in the mansion, is perfectly conveyed by the actor".

His performance in Pizza earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.

Sethupathi established himself with the films Soodhu Kavvum (2013), Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara (2013), Pannaiyarum Padminiyum (2014), Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum (2016), Iraivi (2016), Vikram Vedha (2017), '96 (2018), Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018), Petta (2019), Master (2021) and Vikram (2022).

For playing a trans woman in Super Deluxe (2019), he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He has also starred in the Hindi series Farzi and film Jawan (both 2023).