Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. A leading man since the age of nineteen, he has acted in more than a hundred films, won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor three times, and directed Lucifer and its sequel L2: Empuraan, two of the highest-grossing films in the history of the Malayalam industry.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Prithviraj Sukumaran |
| Born | 16 October 1982, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala |
| Age | 44 |
| Occupation | Actor, director, producer |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Known for | Classmates, Ennu Ninte Moideen, Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Lucifer, Aadujeevitham |
| Parents | Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran |
| Spouse | Supriya Menon (m. 2011) |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Awards | Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2006, 2012, 2023) |
Early Life
Prithviraj is the younger son of the actor Sukumaran, a major star of Malayalam cinema in the 1970s and 1980s, and the actor Mallika Sukumaran. His brother, Indrajith, is also an actor. He was educated at Sainik School, Kazhakootam, and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram. His father died in 1997. Prithviraj went to Australia to study information technology at the University of Tasmania, and was on a break from the course when the director Ranjith offered him a film.
Career
His first release was Nandanam (2002). Within a few years he was one of the busiest young actors in the industry. He won his first state award for Vaasthavam (2006), becoming the youngest recipient of the best actor prize, and the campus film Classmates the same year was a huge hit. He also made a mark in Tamil with Mozhi and Mani Ratnam‘s Raavanan, and in Hindi with Aiyyaa and Aurangzeb.
In 2011 he co-produced and starred in Urumi and Indian Rupee, the latter winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. He won the state award again for Ayalum Njanum Thammil and Celluloid (2012), in the second of which he played J. C. Daniel, the pioneer of Malayalam cinema. Mumbai Police (2013), in which he played a gay police officer, Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015), Ezra, Driving Licence and Ayyappanum Koshiyum (2020), a clash of egos between an ex-soldier and a policeman, were among his successes. He founded Prithviraj Productions with his wife in 2017.
His first film as director, Lucifer (2019), a political thriller starring Mohanlal, became the first Malayalam film reported to have earned more than 200 crore rupees. He followed it with the comedy Bro Daddy (2022) and L2: Empuraan (March 2025), which had the biggest opening in the industry’s history. The sequel’s depiction of the 2002 Gujarat riots brought protests from right-wing groups, and the producers made a number of voluntary cuts.
For Blessy’s Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life, 2024), adapted from the novel by Benyamin about a Malayali labourer enslaved on a goat farm in the Saudi desert, he lost about thirty kilograms. The film had been in preparation for sixteen years and was shot partly in Jordan during the pandemic. It was a major critical and commercial success and won him his third state award for best actor.
He played the second lead opposite Prabhas in the Telugu blockbuster Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023) and appeared in the Hindi films Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Sarzameen. His action film Khalifa followed in 2026, and he plays the antagonist in S. S. Rajamouli‘s Varanasi, with Mahesh Babu, announced for 2027.
Personal Life
He married Supriya Menon, a former BBC journalist, in April 2011, and they have a daughter, Alankrita. He is a co-owner of a football club in the Super League Kerala and is known for speaking his mind, which early in his career made him a frequent target of online mockery and later earned him respect.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Prithviraj Sukumaran born?
Prithviraj Sukumaran was born on 16 October 1982 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and is 44 years old.
What is Prithviraj Sukumaran known for?
Known for: Classmates, Ennu Ninte Moideen, Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Lucifer, Aadujeevitham.
What honours has Prithviraj Sukumaran received?
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor (2006, 2012, 2023).
Featured image: Prithviraj Sukumaran at a film event, February 2025. Photo by Salman2008, licensed under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
