Karthi

Karthi, yeah, the guy’s real name is Karthik Sivakumar, but hardly anyone calls him that now. Born into a family where acting is basically a tradition—his dad Sivakumar is a legend—Karthi still didn’t jump straight into movies. He actually geeked out on Mechanical Engineering in Chennai, then went all the way to New York for a master’s in Industrial Engineering. Wild, right? He even flirted with filmmaking classes there, which clearly did something to his brain because that’s when the movie bug bit him. He could’ve started his film career earlier—Mani Ratnam wanted him for a role in Ayitha Ezhuthu, but Karthi went, “Nah, I’ll wait.” When he finally debuted in Paruthiveeran, he just crushed it—awards, big hype, all that. After that, he kept bouncing between action, thrillers, and masala flicks. Ayirathil Oruvan and Paiyaa both landed him some serious Best Actor nods. Naan Mahaan Alla and Siruthai? Both hits, especially Siruthai where he played a cop and a thief—double trouble, double fun. Not everything he touched turned to gold—Saguni, Alex Pandian, and a couple others didn’t exactly blow up. But then came hits like Biriyani and Madras, which showed he wasn’t a one-trick pony. Teaming up with Mani Ratnam again for Kaatru Veliyidai and then nailing it in Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru just cemented his place. He kept the momentum going with box-office smashes like Kaithi, Sulthan, and Viruman, and even got into the pan-India game with Ponniyin Selvan. Off-screen, he married Ranjani, has two kids, and seems pretty chill about the whole superstar thing.