Thalapathy Vijay
Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar (born 22 June 1974), known professionally as Vijay, is an Indian actor and politician who works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, he acted in 69 films and is amongst the highest paid actors in India. He is one of the most commercially successful actors in the industry with multiple films amongst the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time. He has won several awards as an actor. Referred to as "Thalapathy" (transl. Commander), he has a significant fan following.
Born in Madras in 1974 to film director S. A. Chandrasekhar, Vijay made his debut as a child actor in the Tamil film Vetri (1984). After playing as a child actor in few of the films directed by his father, he played his first lead role in the film Naalaiya Theerpu (1992) at the age of 18. He continued doing lead roles for the next few years and notable films amongst them included Poove Unakkaga (1996), Love Today (1997), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Thullatha Manamum Thullum (1999), and Kushi (2000). In 1998, he was awarded Kalaimaamani by the Government of Tamil Nadu for his role in Kadhalukku Mariyadhai.
In 2004, he starred in the blockbuster action-masala film Ghilli and with subsequent success of Thirupaachi (2005) and Pokkiri (2007), he established himself as one of the leading and commercially successful actors in Tamil cinema. Following a period of moderate success, Vijay acted in several critically and commercially successful films starting from the early 2010s including Thuppakki (2012), Kaththi (2014), Mersal (2017), Sarkar (2018), Master (2021), Beast (2022), Leo (2023), and The Greatest of All Time (2024).
In February 2024, Vijay announced his retirement from films and his entry into politics with the launch of his political outfit, known as Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam.
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