Actor-producer Suriya Sivakumar turns 47 today. The actor is already on cloud nine with the success of his career. The past two years have gained him a lot of popularity in the industry. From Soorarai Pottru, Jai Bhim, to Vikram, the actor has emerged as the new face of Tamil Cinema. His last night’s win has proved that It seems everything that he touches is turning into gold. The actor won National Award for Best Actor for Soorarai Pottru at the 68th National Film Awards.

Suriya made his debut in Tamil cinema in 1997 at the age of 22 in Nerrukku Ner, a Mani Ratnam production. With 49 films under his belt over the last 25 years and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Suriya has persevered and worked on his craft ever since he set foot on the film sets in 1996.

The Singam star’s journey to stardom has been an interesting one, as he has never used his famous father’s name to get a film – even in the early years of his career.

Like his father Sivakumar, Suriya is a philanthropist. He has donated large sums of money to various causes periodically. His father ran an educational trust for 35 years, and to broaden the scope, Suriya started the Agaram Foundation to fund deserving students who don’t have the means to get an education and be successful in life. He believes that one needs to give back to society and this runs deep within the family.

It’s in the last few years that Suriya’s career has taken a significant leap, with the kind of scripts he chose like Soorarai Pottru,  Jai Bhim, and Vikram. Both these films made India take notice of the Tamil star who wanted his work to speak for him.

2022 has truly been Suriya’s year, with his stellar cameo appearance in Kamal Haasan’s Vikram as Rolex and him becoming the first Tamil actor to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Actor Kamal Hassan gifted his watch to Suriya for his performance.

A moment like this makes life beautiful! Thank you Anna for your #Rolex! @ikamalhaasan pic.twitter.com/uAfAM8bVkM

— Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) June 8, 2022

‘With bouquets, the actor also received a few brickbats for his films Soorarai Pottru and Jai Bhim’. Soorarai Pottru was made for the big screen but the pandemic happened, bringing the whole world to a standstill. Suriya, who was also the producer of the movie, took the brave decision of making the film directly available for streaming, considering the pandemic across the world was out of control and nobody had a clue when the semblance of normality would return to our lives.

The actor received massive backlash and threats of getting banned from stakeholders in the box office business. But the actor didn’t budge. Suriya’s screen presence as the strong-willed Maaran was such that it was hard to take our eyes off of him. He even underwent a serious body transformation to briefly play the younger version of his character. His dedication and devotion to his craft were visible in every frame.

Same  happened with Jai Bheem. The members of Vanniyar Sangam were up in arms against the film for allegedly showing their community in a poor light. Gnanavel even acknowledged the oversight on his part and issued an apology. But, the issue was not resolved. A High Court case has been made out of the issue. Recently, the Madras High Court granted interim protection for Suriya and Gnanavel from arrest in the case.

Jai Bhim also made a lot of buzz at the Academy Awards earlier this year

.