Karthi Biography

Tamil actor Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 as Karthik Sivakumar. He was born in Madras (now Chennai) to Tamil actor Sivakumar and Lakshmi. His elder brother Suriya is a major star hero in Tamil Film Industry. He did his schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai. He completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Crescent Engineering College in Chennai. After graduation, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai. Later he obtained Master of Science in Industrial Enginnering from Binghamton University, New York. 

Karthi was always interested in filmmaking and joined as an assiatant director for Mani Ratnam. In fact, while pursuing his masters, he also attended lectures on film-making. He was offered roles many times, it was not acting his interest in the beginning. While working for the Mani Ratnam movie Ayitha Ezhuthu, Karthi appeared in an uncredited role as the friend of the character played by his brother Suriya. 

As acting offers continued to pour, his father, Sivakumar, convinced him to take up acting. It was in 2005 that he joined Ameer Sultan's Paruthiveeran in the lead role. Despite many difficulties during production, Paruthiveeran released to high critical acclaim and Karthi received numerous awards for his portrayal of a rugged village ruffian. 

Karthi later acted in Selva Raghavan's Aayirathil Oruvan. This, and Linguswamy's Paiyaa got postponed several times, and Karthi had to forego many offers he had received during this period. When released, his performance in both films received unanimous acclaim. Paiyaa became a super hit. Naan Mahaan Alla and Siruthai followed and became commercially and critically successful movies. 

After appearing in a series of flop movies, Karthi bounced back with Biriyani, Madras, Oopiri, Kaatru Veliyidai and Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru. These movies established Karthi as a leading man with loads of talent in Kollywood.