Early career (1997–2002) Prior to his career in films, Suriya worked at a garment exports factory for eight months. 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
Vasanth in his film
Aasai (1995), but he rejected the offer citing a lack of interest in an acting career and the offer went to
Ajith Kumar. The
stage name "Suriya" was bestowed to him by Ratnam to avoid a clash of names with established actor
Saravanan. The name "Suriya" was frequently used for characters in Ratnam's films.
Vijay, who co-starred with him in the film, would also go on to become a leading contemporary actor in
Tamil cinema. This was followed by a series of roles in commercially unsuccessful films in the late 1990s. In 1998, he starred in the romantic film
Kaadhale Nimmadhi. In July the same year, he had another release
Sandhippoma. Subsequently, he acted with
Vijayakanth in the film
Perianna (1999), directed by
S. A. Chandrasekhar. That year, he also appeared opposite
Jyothika in
Poovellam Kettuppar. A critic from
The New Indian Express noted, "The-romantic part has little novelty, but Jyothika and Surya perform with bouncy exuberance." His only release in 2000 was
Uyirile Kalanthathu, again opposite Jyothika. Suriya confessed that he struggled due to lack of confidence, memory power, fighting or dancing skills in his early career, but it was actor
Raghuvaran, one of his mentors, who advised him to create his own identity, rather than stay under his father's shadow. This series of failures was broken in 2001 when Suriya starred in two box office successes. He first starred in
Siddique's comedy film
Friends, also co-starring Vijay. His major break came with the action drama
Nandhaa, which was directed by
Bala. Playing the role of an
ex-convict who is very attached to his mother, he received the
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his performance, in addition to his first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. S. R. Ashok Kumar from
The Hindu noted, "Suriya as the young rustic man has reached a new milestone in acting." Suriya had three film releases in 2002: the romantic drama
Unnai Ninaithu opposite
Laila and
Sneha, the action drama
Sri opposite
Shrutika and
Gayatri Jayaraman, and the romantic drama
Mounam Pesiyadhe opposite
Trisha. His performance in
Mounam Pesiyadhe received positive response and earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.
Experimental roles and success (2003–2007) The year 2003 proved to be a turning point in Suriya's career when he starred in
Gautham Vasudev Menon's
Kaakha Kaakha opposite Jyothika, a film about the life of a police officer. The film received positive reviews and Guru Subramaniam from
Rediff.com stated, "Suriya as Anbu Selvan fits the role and this film is certainly a career high for him". His portrayal of a happy-go-lucky village crook with a comic touch in
Bala's
Pithamagan, co-starring
Vikram, won him the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil. The film was a box office success too. This success was followed by his dual roles in
Perazhagan, as an aggressive boxer and a handicapped phone booth keeper. The film emerged as a commercial success at the box office, and won Suriya his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. Praising his performance, Malathi Rangarajan of
The Hindu wrote, "At no point are you allowed to feel that it is the same actor who is playing the physically challenged Chinna and the rough, ardently-in-love Karthik — therein lies [
Perazhagan's] strength". In the same year, he portrayed the role of a student leader in
Mani Ratnam's political drama
Aayutha Ezhuthu along with
Madhavan and
Siddarth. The film received high critical acclaim and was also commercially successful.
Maayavi opposite Jyothika was his first release of 2005. Suriya further consolidated his position with the psychological thriller,
Ghajini directed by
A. R. Murugadoss. Co-starring with
Asin, he played the role of a businessman suffering from
anterograde amnesia.
Ghajini emerged as a blockbuster at the box office and was the third highest-grossing Tamil film of the year. Suriya's performance was unanimously praised, with a reviewer from
Sify citing that "the film is driven by Suriya's riveting performance". The film was dubbed in Telugu under the same name and was again a box office success, earning him fame in
Andhra Pradesh. Suriya received his fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. The film established Suriya among the highest paid Tamil actors. Later that year, he worked in
Hari's action film
Aaru, which was moderately successful at the box office. A reviewer cited, "Suriya keeps you riveted to the seats with another wholesome effort". In 2006, Suriya appeared in a cameo role in
June R. Later that year, he starred opposite Jyothika and
Bhumika Chawla in
N. Krishna's film
Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. The film took a strong opening. It had an average response from critics, but his performance was praised, with a reviewer citing, "Suriya pitches in with yet another fantastic performance, be it the responsible husband and father, or the cool dude at college". In 2007, his only release was director Hari's
Vel, where he reunited with Asin, following
Ghajini. The film, which featured him in dual roles, was commercially successful.
Continued commercial success and stardom (2008–2013) Gautham Vasudev Menon's drama
Vaaranam Aayiram was Suriya's only release of 2008 and was his second film with Menon post
Kaakha Kaakha. Playing dual roles for the third time in his career, Suriya appeared as father and son, with both characters demanding scenes shot throughout their lives ranging from scenes as a 16-year-old to scenes as a 65-year-old. During the production of the film, Suriya described the project as "unique" and "straight from the heart", describing the physical hardships he endured during the making. He lost weight and prepared a
six pack for the film through an eight-month fitness regime without steroids. The film featured him opposite
Simran,
Sameera Reddy and
Divya Spandana and became commercially successful at the box office upon release. Pavithra Srinivasan labelled the film as his "magnum opus", citing that he is "perfect" and that the film for him is a "justified triumph". Similarly, critics cited his performance as "outstanding" and claimed that the film "works because of his performance", whilst other reviewers claimed the film was an "out and out Suriya show". His performance earned him his second
Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil, a
Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize and the
Vijay Award for Best Actor. In 2009, Suriya's first release was
K. V. Anand's action-thriller
Ayan, where he played a smuggler. He appeared alongside
Tamannaah Bhatia. The film was shot extensively across
Tanzania,
Namibia,
Malaysia and
India and featured acrobatic stunts by Suriya, without the use of a stunt double. Upon release, it received positive reviews, with critics citing the film as a "must watch" and Suriya's performance was yet again acclaimed and he found himself nominated for leading awards and won the
Vijay Award for Entertainer of the Year, in addition to his seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. The film's success saw him emerge as the most profitable leading actor in Tamil films, following a hattrick of large commercial hits, with film journals suggesting that his success was due to "experiments within the commercial format" and he was successful in "avoiding being typecast".
Ayan was the
highest-grossing Tamil film of 2009. His next film,
K. S. Ravikumar's action entertainer
Aadhavan also achieved commercial success, while Suriya's depiction of a hitman was praised. A critic from
Sify labelled it as an "out and out Suriya show", stating that "the film rides on the magic of the actor, and his zany shenanigans alone makes it worth a watch" and Rediff.com cited that "he sings, dances, and fights with absolute sincerity, but when he looks at you with tears in his eyes in an emotional scene tailor-made for him, the applause hits the roof", concluding that it is "completely his film". Suriya's first release of 2010 was his 25th film,
Singam directed by
Hari, in which he played the role of a police officer, starring alongside
Anushka Shetty. The film received positive reviews with
The Hindu reviewer noting, "Suriya shows that be it a performance-oriented role or a formulaic concoction he can deliver", while
Sify stated, "Ultimately it is Suriya who carries the film to the winning post. His passion and the way he brings an ordinary regular larger-than-life hero character alive on screen is lesson for other commercial heroes." The film won Suriya his second Vijay Award for Best Entertainer, in addition to his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil, and subsequently went on to become the second highest-grossing film of the year. Suriya expanded to Telugu and Hindi films with
Ram Gopal Varma's political drama
Rakta Charitra. The film was released in Tamil as
Ratha Sarithiram, which was partly dubbed and partly reshot.
Rajeev Masand noted, "The film belongs to Suriya, and is watchable only for the sheer presence of the Southern star, and for the intensity he brings to his part." Suriya then appeared alongside
R. Madhavan and
Trisha in a song in
Manmadhan Ambu. '' with director
Ram Gopal Varma Following two special appearances in 2011, in
K. V. Anand's
Ko and
Bala's
Avan Ivan, Suriya featured in
AR Murugadoss's science fiction action thriller
7 Aum Arivu. He co-starred with
Shruti Haasan and played dual roles, as a circus artist and as the Buddhist monk named
Bodhidharma, who lived in the 6th century. His performance earned him his ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. The film met with mixed reviews, but was a commercial success and became his first film to gross above 1 billion. N. Venkateswaran noted, "If the movie deserves a look, it is only because of the ever-dependable Suriya. He is a treat to watch as Bodhidharma." His only 2012 release was
K. V. Anand-directed action thriller
Maattrraan. Acting with
Kajal Aggarwal, he played the role of
conjoined twins, Vimalan and Akhilan. The film received mixed reviews, and ended up being an average grosser. Critics however praised the film's technical aspects and
VFX, in addition to Suriya's performance, which earned him his tenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. His brother
Karthi dubbed for one of his characters in the Telugu dubbed version. J Hurtado of
Twitch Film said, "Suriya is called upon to carry the entire weight of the film on his shoulders as he is surrounded by a very one-dimensional supporting cast." In January 2012, Suriya was named as the official host of the new game show to be presented on
STAR Vijay,
Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, the Tamil version of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It began airing on 27 February 2012 and ended on 12 July. His next film was
Singam II opposite Anushka Shetty and
Hansika Motwani, a sequel to his 2010 film
Singam. The film released on 5 July 2013 to mixed reviews from critics. However, the film received a huge opening and emerged one of the
highest grossing Tamil films of all time. Suriya was once again acclaimed for his portrayal of Durai Singam and his performance was hailed as "the film's backbone".
Singam II was a box office hit and became his second ₹1 billion grosser. Suriya received his eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. Suriya distributed the film through his production company
2D Entertainment, founded in 2013. He had signed on to feature in
Gautham Vasudev Menon's film
Dhruva Natchathiram and reportedly waited for six months to start filming. However, in October 2013, he backed out due to differences with the director and the project lagging too much. In a 2013 interview with the
Bangalore Mirror, film producer
G. Dhananjayan called Suriya as the "biggest star" in contemporary Tamil cinema and claimed it was mainly because his popularity extended to Telugu and Malayalam speaking audiences as well.
Career struggles and sporadic success (2014–2019) Suriya's only release in 2014 was
Anjaan opposite
Samantha Ruth Prabhu, directed by
N. Lingusamy. It was released to mixed reviews, and was an average grosser at the box office. A reviewer of
IANS wrote, "Suriya gives an earnest performance. But he's let down by a weak script, terrible performances by the rest of the cast and lengthy narrative." He also co-sang "
Ek Do Theen Char" with
Andrea Jeremiah for the film. In 2015, Suriya released
36 Vayadhinile starring Jyothika, the first production from his company
2D Entertainment. His next release was
Venkat Prabhu's film
Massu Engira Masilamani, opposite Nayanthara and
Pranitha Subhash. Critics were all in praise for Suriya's performance, but the film received mixed reviews. Despite this, it emerged as a commercial success. In the same year, he produced
Pasanga 2 (2015), directed by
Pandiraj. In 2016, Suriya appeared in the science-fiction action drama
24 directed by
Vikram Kumar. Based on the concept of
time-travel, he played triple roles of a scientist, his evil brother and the scientist's watch mechanic son, and starred alongside Samantha Ruth Prabhu and
Nithya Menen. Sreedhar Pillai of
Firstpost noted, "Suriya is fantastic, and does the difficult triple role of playing a scientist, lover boy and above all, the deadly villain with élan and style." Malini Mannath of
The New Indian Express stated, "Suriya plays each role with relish. Of particular mention is his essaying of Athreya the antagonist. The actor showcasing a new dimension to his performance here, yet again surprises you with his splendid take on it." For his performance, Suriya won the
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Tamil, in addition to his twelfth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. The film also grossed above ₹1 billion at the box office worldwide and was a commercial success. His first film of 2017,
Si3, the third film of the
Singam franchise, saw him reprise his role opposite Anushka Shetty and Shruti Haasan. A box office success, it emerged another 1 billion grosser. His only release in 2018 was
Thaanaa Serndha Koottam directed by
Vignesh Shivan. He played a fake CBI officer opposite
Keerthy Suresh, in this box office success. In the same year, he produced
Kadaikutty Singam, starring his brother
Karthi, and co-sang "Cha Cha Charey" with
Karthi,
Kharesma Ravichandran,
Venkat Prabhu and
Premgi Amaren for the movie
Party. He had two releases in 2019:
Selvaraghavan's
NGK opposite
Sai Pallavi and
Rakul Preet Singh, and
K. V. Anand's
Kaappaan opposite
Sayyeshaa, which marked the third time he collaborated with the director. Both films received mixed reviews from critics, but the latter emerged a commercial success. He also produced
Uriyadi 2 and
Jackpot in 2019.
Career resurgence and critical acclaim (2020–present) for
Soorarai Pottru Suriya's career saw a resurgence with the biographical drama
Soorarai Pottru, based on the life of
Air Deccan founder Captain
G. R. Gopinath. It was directed by
Sudha Kongara, produced by Suriya's 2D Entertainment and co-produced by Guneet Monga under Sikhya Entertainment. He played Maara opposite
Aparna Balamurali. He sang "Maara Theme" and its
Telugu version "Maha Theme" for the film, which was released directly on
Amazon Prime Video in November 2020. The film received widespread critical acclaim and won Suriya his first
National Film Award for Best Actor, in addition to his third Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. His next work that year was
Navarasa, a
Netflix anthology series produced by
Mani Ratnam. It was released in August 2021. He acted in the 9th episode titled
Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru, directed by
Gautham Vasudev Menon. The artists, technicians and directors of the series contributed towards the film without remuneration, with only the costs of production being associated. The profits earned from the project were donated to the members of the
Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), who were affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Suriya then played
Justice K. Chandru in T. J. Gnanavel's legal drama
Jai Bhim. The film, which was his own production, was distributed by
Amazon Prime Video in November 2021. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story, performances, direction and social message, and several publications listed the film as "one of the best Tamil and Indian films of 2021".
Saibal Chatterjee from
NDTV noted: "Suriya, stepping out manfully from his comfort zone, slips effortlessly and efficaciously into the skin - and spirit of Chandru." The film was shortlisted among the 276 films eligible for nomination at the
94th Academy Awards, but failed to make the final list of nominations.
Jai Bhim also became the first Indian film to be featured on the
Oscars' YouTube channel. Suriya won the
Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil as producer of the film, and received his fourteenth nomination for the Filmfare Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film, but lost the award to his performance in
Soorarai Pottru. The same year, he produced two films,
Raame Aandalum Raavane Aandalum and
Udanpirappe. In 2022, Suriya's first film was
Etharkkum Thunindhavan, also known under the initialism
ET. The film, which was directed by
Pandiraj and produced by
Kalanithi Maran under
Sun Pictures, featured him opposite
Priyanka Mohan. It released to mixed reviews. The film was a moderate box office success. Following this, he appeared in a cameo as Rolex, a drug lord in
Lokesh Kanagaraj's
Vikram. Haricharan Pudipeddi stated: "Suriya's brief but powerful cameo is just the high one needs as you step out of
Vikram". The film became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of all time. He also had a cameo appearance in
R. Madhavan's
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. After the release of
Etharkkum Thunindhavan, Suriya started work on
Bala's
Vanangaan. However, in December 2022, it was confirmed that he left the project due to differences with the director. Suriya's other productions in 2022 were
Oh My Dog and
Viruman. With no film release in 2023, Suriya's first appearance in 2024 was a cameo in
Sarfira, the Hindi remake of
Soorarai Pottru which he co-produced with
Akshay Kumar in the lead. He then appeared in
Siva's big budget film
Kanguva (2024). The film was produced jointly by
Studio Green and UV Creations, and was released to negative reviews. He played dual roles of a bounty hunter and a tribal chieftain opposite
Disha Patani. The film was a box office failure. and opened to positive reviews from critics. Avinash Ramachandran noted, "Suriya’s brilliant turn as Paari anchors the film. The director's vision allows him to deliver a performance that hasn’t come to the fore in a while." The film had the best opening of his career and went on to become a commercial success. Suriya will next appear in
RJ Balaji's
Karuppu produced by
Dream Warrior Pictures, in
Venky Atluri's
Vishwanath & Sons, and in
Jithu Madhavan's untitled film. == Humanitarian and social causes ==