Suriya

Suriya was born to actor Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi in Chennai, but brought up in Coimbatore. He is the eldest of three children; his younger brother is actor Karthi Sivakumar and he has a younger sister named Brindha Sivakumar. He attended PSBB School and St. Bede's School in Chennai and graduated from Loyola College with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Before his career in films, Suriya worked at a garment exports factory for eight months. To avoid nepotism, he did not reveal himself to his boss as Sivakumar's son, but his boss ultimately learnt the truth himself. He was initially offered the lead role by Director Vasanth in his film Aasai (1995), but he rejected the offer citing a lack of interest in an acting career. He later debuted in Vasanth's own 1997 film Nerrukku Ner, produced by Mani Ratnam when he was 22 years of age. The stage name Suriya was bestowed to him by Ratnam to avoid a clash of names with established actor Saravanan. Vijay, who would also go on to become a le