Vijay Sethupathi's Interesting Journey To Stardom Will Inspire You

After quitting his boring accountant job, Vijay returned to India from Dubai to explore better job opportunities. Post-return, his love for acting, made him join a Chennai-based theatre troupe Koothuppattarai as an accountant in 2004. After noticing his love for acting, he was given a few roles to act. In the same year, he debuted on the silver screen as an uncredited extra in the 2004 flick M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi and thus began his tryst with the silver screen.

After a dry run for two years, Sethupathi clinched a role in Sun TV's soap opera 'Penn'. Unable to quench his thirst, he continued his quest for better roles. In 2006, he acted as an extra in 'Dishyum' & 'Pudhupettai'. His struggle continued for three more years as he was cast only as an extra till 2009. In 2010, he was cast in his first supporting role as a youth in 'Naan Mahaan Alla'. After acting in supporting roles for the next 2 years, director Karthik Subbaraj propelled Vijay to stardom by casting him in the runway hit 'Pizza'.

After acting in the TV soap opera Penn, Vijay approached short film makers for roles in their films. Karthik Subbaraj cast him in four of his films in 2010. Two years later, Karthik cast Sethupathi in 'Pizza' which happened to be Karthik's debut film. The horror flick's success gave the much necessary push to both Karthik & Vijay. Post-'Pizza', he scored a victory hat-trick with flicks 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom' & 'Soodhu Kaavum'.

Vijay Sethupathi's roles are not only relatable but are also diverse. By selecting different roles, Sethupathi made sure that he could cater to different audiences. Within two years of 'Pizza's success, Sethupathi boasted a large fan base due to his gutsy silver screen experiments. By 2014, he had won awards & garnered various nominations.

With his first lead role in Pizza, Vijay Sethupathi earned the best actor Filmfare award nomination. Not stopping there, he won the SIIMA best actor award, BIG FM Most Entertaining Actor of the Year. Sethupathi then won Edison Award for Best Male Rising Star, Norway Tamil Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his incredible performance in 'Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom'. He also impressed the Vijay Awards committee for they gave him the special jury award. Since 2012, Vijay Sethupathi is winning some awards & has been nominated for various awards in best actor category, quite a few times.

Sethupathi had the rare honour to star in a film whose title was same as his surname. After the project was titled, Vijay asked the director, S. U. Arun Kumar, to retitle the film as he was unsure as to how the film would fare upon its release. However, after much ado, Arun decided to retain the title as it had a certain mass appeal. Due to his intense acting & engaging story, 'Sethupathi' became a hit & affirmed his star status in Tamil Cinema. Posted below is a still of the film.

Who would have known that an uncredited extra would become a producer? That's Vijay Sethupathi. In 2015, he produced two flicks. 'Orange Mittai' was his first production. The film was well-received & went on to premiere at the Busan film festival. Encouraged by the success, he produced Merku Thodarchi Malai. The film was awarded the U certificate & is yet to release. Posted below is a still from 'Orange Mittai'.

Vijay boldly admitted that he was a average student & was never a sports enthusiast. In Dubai, after quitting his accountant job, he donned the role of a marketer & worked for quite a while. During that time, he came across Jessie on a online dating profile. After they hit it off, Sethupathi came to India to marry her. Since then, they have lived happily ever after.