Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar (Tamil: ஜோசப் விஜய் சந்திரசேகர்; born June 22, 1974),better known mononymously as Vijay, is an Indian film actor and playback singer, who stars in Tamil-language films. He is the son of film producer and director S. A. Chandrasekhar. After performing uncredited roles as a child actor in films produced by his father, he made his debut in a lead role in the 1992 film Naalaya Theerpu. Since then, he acted in several films of action and romance genres. He has also worked as a playback singer in several of his films, as well as a few films starring other actors. During his career in the Tamil film industry, he has won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and was nominated for one Filmfare Award.
Vijay has starred in several romance and action films, including the commercially successful films Poove Unakkaga (1996), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Thulladha Manamum Thullum (1999), Kushi (2000), Priyamaanavale (2000),Tirumalai(2003) Ghilli (2004) (His biggest commercial success till date),Thirupaachi(2005) ,Sivakasi (2005),Pokkiri (2007)Vettaikkaran(2009) and Kaavalan (2011). He also worked with several corporations as a brand ambassador and is a former brand ambassador of the Indian Premier League cricket team, Chennai Super Kings.
Vijay was born to S. A. Chandrasekhar, a film producer and director and Shobha Chandrasekhar, a Carnatic singer. He attended the Balalok Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam, Chennai.[3] He began his post-secondary studies at Loyola College in Chennai and entered in the acting field.
Career
Early years: 1992–2002
During his childhood, Vijay performed in uncredited roles as a child actor in films produced by his father, S. A. Chandrasekhar. At the age of 18, Vijay debuted as a lead actor in the 1992 film Naalaya Theerpu, also produced by his father. In his second film, he co-starred with Vijayakanth in the film Sendhoorapandi. His following films Rasigan and Deva were all low-budget films. In his fifth film Rajavin Parvaiyile in 1993, he co-starred with actor Ajith Kumar, who, like Vijay, was also a rising young actor then. Also released that year were his romantic comedies Vishnu and Chandralekha.
The following year, Vijay continued to pursue romantic comedy films like Coimbatore Mappillai. The Vikraman-directed Poove Unakkaga helped Vijay to become a recognisable actor. Vijay's tenth film was Vasantha Vasal which was followed by the action flicks Maanbumigu Maanavan and Selva. After more romance films in 1997, like Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen and Love Today, Vijay took up the romantic comedy film, Once More, in which he co-starred with legendary Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan. In his next film, the Mani Ratnam-produced Nerukku Ner, directed by Vasanth, he co-starred with Suriya who happened to make his debut in that film. He wrapped up that year with his first commercial success, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai, which was directed by Fazil and earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.
In 1998, Vijay worked in Ninaithen Vandhai, Priyamudan, and Nilaave Vaa. In 1999, his film Thulladha Manamum Thullum earned him a Special Prize at the following year's Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. This was followed by the films Endrendrum Kadhal, Nenjinile, Minsara Kanna.
At the start of the new millennium he did Kannukkul Nilavu with Fazil. He decided not to commit in films that took a year to release, which changed his trend. His next venture Kushi was directed by S. J. Suryah. At the end of the year, he acted in Priyamanavale. His 2001 comedy film Friends was directed by Siddique and featured him alongside Suriya again. Badri was an action – drama flick which he followed with the romance film, Shahjahan.
In 2002, he starred in Thamizhan alongside the then debutante Priyanka Chopra. Youth and Bagavathi rounded off the year. The following year 2003 began with Vaseegara and Pudhiya Geethai.
Commercial success: 2003–07
Vijay then switched gears with the action-romance flick, Thirumalai, which featured him with a new look. Udhaya, a film which began filming in 2002 but became delayed, finally released at the start of 2004.
Ghilli, which was released in 2004, is considered as one of Vijay's biggest commercial successes. Directed by S. Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam, it was a remake of the Telugu film Okkadu, and ran for 200 days in theatres in Tamil Nadu. It was followed by Madhurey. It was in this year which Vijay began to portray his current mass-hero, stereotypical acting style, giving him a major turning point in his career. The following year, 2005, had other major films such as the Perarasu-directed Thirupaachi, the romantic flick Sachien, and another masala film, Sivakasi, again by Perarasu.
His next film Aadhi, was released in 2006. He later accepted to work in Pokkiri that year. Directed by Prabhu Deva, it released in 2007 and met almost the same success Ghilli did, in which Vijay played the character of an undercover cop diguised as a local gangster. Vijay's performance was well praised and received an award from actor Kamal Haasan at Nehru Stadium for his performance. He received honorary doctorate from M.G.R University for his philanthropic works.
2007–2010
Late 2007, Vijay starred in the romantic drama film Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, and for the first time, he appeared in dual roles, as both the antagonist and protagonist. In 2008, he starred in the action film Kuruvi, again under Dharani's direction.
The year 2009 started off with the action masala film Villu, which was directed by Prabhu Deva who was keen on working with him again after Pokkiri. The film featured Vijay in dual roles for the second time in his career. Vijay's next film, Vettaikaaran was directed by Babu Sivan, produced by AVM Productions and distributed by Sun Pictures.
In 2010, Vijay's 50th film Sura released, which was also distributed by Sun Pictures.
2011 onwards
He associated with director Siddique again for Kaavalan, the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film Bodyguard.[4] It received a positive response from both viewers and critics and was declared a successful venture at the box office.[5][6] As of late-2010, he was working with M. Raja for Velayudham, which is being produced by Venu Ravichandran. He is currently working with S. Shankar for the film Nanban which features Vijay as the main character alongside Jeeva, Srikanth and Ileana D'Cruz.[7] He is believed to join hands with A. R. Murugadoss in a Mumbai based film.
