36 Facts About Karthi

Karthi has won three Filmfare Awards South, an Edison Award, a SIIMA Award and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award.

The younger brother of actor Suriya and son of actor Sivakumar, Karthi initially joined Mani Ratnam as an assistant director and made his acting debut with Paruthiveeran, which earned him several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Karthi went on to star in notable films like Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiyaa, Naan Mahaan Alla, Siruthai, Biriyani, Madras, Thozha, Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru, Kadaikutty Singam, Kaithi, Thambi, Sulthan, Viruman, Ponniyin Selvan: I, Sardar and Ponniyin Selvan: II, thus establishing himself as a commercially successful leading actor of Tamil cinema.

Apart from his film career, Karthi has been involved in social welfare activities, encouraging fans to do likewise through the "Makkal Nala Mandram", a social welfare club that he inaugurated.

Karthi completed his elementary and secondary school education at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai.

Karthi gained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Crescent Engineering College, Chennai.

Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United States, and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his Master of Science in industrial engineering.

Karthi then decided to pursue a career in filmmaking; he attended two courses in basic filmmaking at State University of New York.

When Karthi returned to Chennai, he met director Mani Ratnam and got a chance to work as an assistant director in Aayutha Ezhuthu, because he wanted to become a film director and preferred directing to acting, though he did appear as an extra in Aayutha Ezhuthu.

Karthi accepted his first acting assignment with Priyamani as female lead in April 2005.

Karthi received several accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Tamil.

In October 2006, Karthi signed his second project under Selvaraghavan's direction, Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, which was supposed to be a romance film, featuring Sandhya as the female lead.

Karthi had agreed to play the lead character in Linguswamy's next film Paiyaa, in September 2007.

Karthi later said that he became anxious because he received several film offers, but could not work on them because he needed to maintain the continuity of his looks.

Ravindran complained that Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to Paiyaa before finishing his commitments.

Karthi said that he accepted the film because he desperately wanted to play a cool dude on screen.

Karthi played two roles; a thief and a police officer.

In May 2011, Karthi began working in the political comedy film Saguni, directed by Shankar Dayal and featuring him amongst an ensemble cast of supporting actors.

Karthi played Kamalakannan in the film, a villager who comes to the city to save his palatial house in Karaikudi from being destroyed for a politician's personal gain and unknowingly transforms to become a kingmaker in Tamil Nadu politics.

Karthi dubbed for himself for the Telugu version of Saguni and his since dubbed for the Telugu dubbed versions of all of his films.

Karthi later appeared in the 2013 Pongal release Alex Pandian, opposite Anushka Shetty, which opened to negative critical response upon release.

Karthi sang the song "Mississippi" under Yuvan Shankar Raja's direction.

Right after Theeran Karthi acted in Kadaikutty Singam portrayed the role of a farmer directed by Pandiraj which has been produced by this brother Suriya which has gained the highest footfalls in the year 2018 in Tamil Nadu.

Karthi's Deepawali release in the same year Kaithi was a blockbuster hit and it collected more than one billion in box office.

Karthi was next seen in Sulthan, directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan.

Karthi will be playing as Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan in that film and this is the first Pan-Indian film for the actor.

Karthi has two siblings; an elder brother, Suriya, who was already an established actor at the time of Karthi's film debut, and a younger sister, Brindha, who is a singer in Tamil cinema.

On 3 July 2011, Karthi married Ranjani Chinnasamy, who graduated with a master's degree in English literature from Stella Maris College, Chennai.

Karthi has been involved in several charities and social service activities.

Karthi presented a cheque of 50,000 to YRG Care Centre, which helps AIDS affected children.

In 2011, Karthi became a cause ambassador for promoting awareness of lysosomal storage disease.

Karthi had adopted a white tiger cub at Vandalur Zoo and contributed 72,000 to protect and preserve the animal.

In September 2010, Karthi signed a contract with Bharti Airtel to become its brand ambassador in South India and appear in its "Indraikku enna plan" advertising campaign.

Karthi has appeared in advertisements for Bru Instant Coffee along with Kajal Aggarwal, who had earlier acted opposite him in Naan Mahaan Alla and All in All Azhagu Raja.

In 2015, Karthi joined fellow actors Vishal, Nassar, Karunas and Ponvannan to campaign against the concurrent office bearers of the Nadigar Sangam, led by R Sarathkumar and Radha Ravi.

Karthi was successful in the election, becoming the association's treasurer.