Vijay Sethupathi (born 16 January 1978) is an Indian actor and producer who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also acted in Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films. After years as a background artist he became one of Tamil cinema’s most respected and versatile stars, equally convincing as hero, villain or character actor. His fans call him “Makkal Selvan” (“the people’s treasure”). He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Super Deluxe (2019).
Quick Facts
| Full name | Vijaya Gurunatha Sethupathi Kalimuthu |
| Born | 16 January 1978, Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Age | 48 |
| Occupation | Actor, producer |
| Education | Dhanraj Baid Jain College, Chennai (B.Com.) |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Spouse | Jessy Sethupathi (m. 2003) |
| Children | 2 (Surya and Shreeja) |
| Honour | National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor (2021) |
Early Life
Sethupathi was born in Rajapalayam and moved to Chennai as a boy. He has described himself as an average student with no interest in sport or stage. To support his family he worked as a salesman, a cashier at a fast-food outlet and a telephone booth operator, and then for about two years as an accountant in Dubai, where he met his future wife online. Back in Chennai he joined the theatre group Koothu-P-Pattarai as an accountant and watched its actors closely.
Career
For five years he played uncredited bit parts. The director Seenu Ramasamy gave him his first lead in Thenmerku Paruvakaatru (2010), which won three National Awards. In 2012 three low-budget films, Pizza, Sundarapandian and Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, made him a name, followed by the black comedy Soodhu Kavvum (2013).
He played the gangster Vedha in Vikram Vedha (2017) opposite R. Madhavan, a travel photographer revisiting his school sweetheart in the tender ’96 (2018) and a transgender woman, Shilpa, in Super Deluxe. He was the villain in Petta with Rajinikanth, Master (2021) with Vijay, Vikram (2022) with Kamal Haasan and the Hindi film Jawan (2023) with Shah Rukh Khan. He also appeared in the Hindi series Farzi and the film Merry Christmas.
His fiftieth film, Maharaja (2024), a thriller about a barber searching for a stolen dustbin, was a major hit in India and later in China. He also hosts the Tamil edition of Bigg Boss.
Personal Life
He married Jessy in 2003, and they have a son and a daughter. He is known for accepting small roles in friends’ films and for speaking plainly on social issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Vijay Sethupathi born?
Vijay Sethupathi was born on 16 January 1978 in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India and is 48 years old.
What is Vijay Sethupathi’s occupation?
Occupation: Actor, producer.
Featured image: Vijay Sethupathi (right) with A. R. Rahman and Andrea Jeremiah at a launch event in Chennai, April 2019. Photo by Dani Charles, Silverscreen Media, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
