27 Facts About Prashanth

At the peak of his career in the late 1990s, Prashanth was one of the popular actors in South India.

Prashanth has won a Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The son of actor-director Thiagarajan, Prashanth began his career at age 17 with the Tamil film Vaigasi Poranthachu and went on to feature in other films including Balu Mahendra's Vanna Vanna Pookkal, R K Selvamani's Chembaruthi and Mani Ratnam's Thiruda Thiruda.

Prashanth rose to stardom with Shankar's romantic comedy Jeans in which he played a dual role alongside Aishwarya Rai.

Prashanth went on to star in several successful films including Chocolate, Majunu, Thamizh, Virumbugiren, Winner, Shock and London.

Prashanth was born on 6 April 1973 in Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

Prashanth is the son of Thiagarajan, actor and director in Tamil films, while his maternal grandfather Peketi Sivaram was an actor and a director of Telugu and Kannada films.

Prashanth studied Computer Graphics and Multimedia and went to Trinity College of Music in London before embarking on an acting career.

Prashanth completed his 12th grade and was enlisted in two medical colleges.

Prashanth started off as a leading romantic hero in the 1990 Tamil film Vaigasi Poranthachu at the age of 17.

Prashanth acted in Tholi Muddhu alongside Divya Bharti which was the remake of the Bollywood film Dil.

Prashanth used to be the chocolate boy of Tamil cinema during the 1990s and he plays a variation of that stereotype in portraying Azhagu.

Prashanth is forced to dress in the drag after the landlady insists that the house only for a family man and not bachelors.

In 1998, Prashanth appeared in dual roles in S Shankar's film, Jeans.

Prashanth acted in two other romantic films that year, namely Kannedhirey Thondrinal and Kaadhal Kavithai.

At the peak of his career in the late 1990s, Prashanth appeared in stage events across the world for the Tamil diaspora titled "Prashanth Star Nite".

Prashanth then collaborated with director Hari, making his debut, for the action drama film, Thamizh.

The film gained positive reviews upon release, with a critic noting the "Prashanth has matured into a performer of merit" and that "the transformation of a fun-loving, cheerful young man into a thug has been conceived well by director Hari and creditably executed by Prashanth".

The success of the film prompted Prashanth to move away from romantic films and strive to work on more action drama films.

Prashanth next signed on to appear in Susi Ganesan's village action story Sakkarai in October 2004 only for the film to be discontinued after a grand launch ceremony.

In December 2005, Prashanth started work on R K Selvamani's Pulan Visaranai 2, a sequel to the director's 1990 film, with the film's soundtrack and trailer released by 2006.

In September 2008, Thiagarajan announced that he would remake his successful 1983 film Malaiyoor Mambattiyan, with Prashanth portraying the lead role of a Robin Hood-esque figure.

In February 2016, Prashanth reaffirmed that the sequel was in development.

Prashanth began making Saagasam, a remake of the Telugu film Julai during 2013, but the film had a delayed release in February 2016.

In early 2017, Prashanth worked on the thriller film Johnny, a remake of the Hindi film Johnny Gaddaar.

Prashanth began working on the remake of Andhadhun in August 2019.

On 1 September 2005, Prashanth married V D Grahalakshmi and they have one son, born in 2006.