S. J. Surya is one of the most popular and richest Actor who was born on July 20, 1968 in Vasudevanallur, Tamil Nadu, India.
Born in Vasudevanallur, Tirunelveli district (present day Tenkasi district), he moved to Chennai to complete a Physics degree at Loyola College. Despite getting an opportunity to pursue further studies at an engineering college in Madurai, he declined the offer and stayed in Chennai, with the hope of finding a breakthrough as an actor in Tamil films. To be financially self-dependent, he began working in hotels and as a steward, before receiving an offer to apprentice under K. Bhagyaraj. He subsequently worked as an assistant director in the teams of Aasai (1995) under Vasanth and Sundara Purushan (1996) under Sabapathy, while also being seen in uncredited appearances as an actor, notably as a cock fighter in Bharathiraja’s Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993).
While working in the team of Ullaasam (1997), the film’s lead actor Ajith Kumar recognised Surya from their collaboration in Aasai, and accepted to listen to a script narration. Ajith, impressed with the narration, subsequently helped approach S. S. Chakravarthy to produce the film and the team began work on Vaali (1999) in late 1997. Keerthi Reddy was announced to be the lead actress before she was replaced by Simran, while Surya also chose to introduce Jyothika in the film. A thriller film, a reviewer from the Deccan Herald described it as “definitely worth seeing” saying it “has something for all tastes — a pleasant love angle, some suspense, complex psychological nuances, good acting, pleasing songs” while praising Ajith’s performance. The reviewer from Indolink.com labelled the film as “a classic in its own right”, describing Surya as “a new young director to the cine field who can make Tamil Cinema be proud once again”.
