Vijay Sethupathi

Biography

Vijay Sethupathi is a South Indian film actor who has worked predominantly in the Tamil movie industry. For over five years, he worked as a background actor and minor supporting actor before landing his first lead role in Seenu Ramasamy’s Thenmerku Paruvakaatru. He went on to star in Pizza and Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, both of which were successful and turned Vijay Sethupathi into a popular name in Tamil cinema.   Sethupathi was born in Rajapalayam, Virudhunagar district, and did his education in Chennai. He graduated with a B.Com. degree, following which he worked for three years as an accountant in Dubai, UAE. Unhappy with his job, he returned to India in 2003, and he himself was motivated to pursue an acting career. He started acting in several short films as part of the television show Nalaya Iyakunar for Kalaignar TV.   He worked with Karthik Subbaraj on many short films; he would later be cast in his first feature film. He won the Best Actor award for one of his films at the Norway Tamil Film Festival short film competition.   Sethupathi landed his first lead role in Ramasamy’s 2011 drama film Thenmerku Paruvakaatru, in which he portrayed a shepherd. Although initial reviews were mixed, the film went on to win three National Film Awards, including the prize for the best Tamil feature film of that year. He was first seen in a negative role in Sundarapandian, which featured Sasikumar in the lead role, and then essayed the lead roles in the directorial debuts of Karthik Subbaraj and Balaji Tharaneetharan, the thriller movie Pizza and the comedy entertainer Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, respectively.