Ameer Sultan was born in
Madurai, Tamil Nadu,
India. He initially studied economics and worked as an entrepreneur before starting to work as an assistant director to Tamil filmmaker
Bala on his award-winning film
Sethu in 1999 and
Nandhaa in 2001. Shortly after, he directed his first film, the romantic comedy
Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002). The film starred
Suriya in the lead and became
Trisha Krishnan's first release featuring her in a leading role. The same year, he began his own production company, Teamwork Production House. His second directorial was the mystery thriller
Raam, which he produced himself. It was released three years later, in 2005. The film, which revolves around an
autistic teenager, portrayed by
Jiiva, who is highly attached to his mother, but becomes the main suspect in her murder, received critical acclaim, with Jeeva and the film's composer
Yuvan Shankar Raja winning awards at the 2005
Cyprus International Film Festival. It also became Jeeva's first successful film in the film industry, who till then, had appeared in two unsuccessful home productions only. In 2007, he directed the drama
Paruthiveeran set in a village in
Tamil Nadu, which marked the debut of
Karthi, younger son of
Sivakumar and brother of
Suriya. Karthi as well as
Priyamani, who performed the female lead, won several notable prizes for their performances.
Paruthiveeran remains Ameer's most acclaimed work, having received six
Filmfare Awards South including the
Best Film and
Best Director trophies, two
National Film Awards, two
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and four
Vijay Awards. The film further fetched accolades at international platform, winning the Best Film Award at the
Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema and
Netpac Special Mention award at the
Berlin International Film Festival. His fourth directorial,
Aadhi Bhagavan, starring
Jayam Ravi and
Neetu Chandra, released in 2013, to mixed reviews. Later, he win
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award Best Supporting Actor for
Vada Chennai (2018). He starred as lead actor in the political drama
Uyir Thamizhukku (2024). == Filmography ==