S. J. SuryaTamil Actor – Movies List & Song Lyrics

Suryah made his directorial debut with Vaalee in 1999 whose success catapulted him to stardom. His other notable films include Kushi (2000), New (2004), Anbe Aaruyire (2005) and Isai (2015). He made his acting debut with New and went on to act in films like Kalvanin Kadhali (2006), Thirumagan (2007), Vyabari (2007) and appeared as the antagonist in Spyder (2017), Mersal (2017), Maanaadu (2021), Don (2022), Mark Antony (2023), Indian 2 (2024), Raayan (2024), Saripodhaa Sanivaaram (2024), Game Changer (2025), Veera Dheera Sooran (2025),Love Insurance Kompany (2026), Sardar 2 (2026) and Jailer 2 (2026) and as the protagonist in Kadamaiyai Sei (2022) and Jigarthanda DoubleX (2023).

S.J. Suryah, originally named Selvaraj Justin Pandian, was born on July 20, 1968, into a Tamil family in Vasudevanallur, Tenkasi district. His parents, Sammanasu Pandian and Anandham, raised him alongside his two older siblings: a sister named Selvi and a brother named Victor.

After completing his schooling near his birthplace in Vasudevanallur near Puliangudi in South Tamil Nadu, Suryah 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 Suryah 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 Vaalee (1999) in late 1997. Keerthi Reddy was announced to be the lead actress before she was replaced by Simran, while Suryah 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 Suryah as "a new young director to the cine field who can make Tamil Cinema be proud once again". The New Indian Express mentioned the film as "outstanding" while mentioning Suryah does a "good job and succeeds". The film's commercial success meant that it provided a breakthrough for both Suryah's and the lead actors' careers.

After watching the première show of Vaalee, producer A. M. Rathnam offered Suryah an opportunity to make another film and thus Kushi, a romantic comedy featuring Vijay and Jyothika materialised. Telling the story of a pair of egoistic lovers with a college backdrop, the film was shot in early 2000 across South India and New Zealand. The film opened to positive reviews from critics in May 2000 and also went on to achieve box office success. Rediff.com gave a positive verdict stating that the movie is a "neat family entertainer", praising the director's story-telling, while Bizhat.com also gave the movie a positive review. The Hindu featured the film as runner-up in their list of top Tamil films in 2000, while Jyothika went on to win the Filmfare Best Actress Award in Tamil for her performance in the film.

The team then approached Pawan Kalyan to star in a Telugu version of the film and after a positive narration session, the actor prioritised the venture over two other films. Bhumika Chawla was added to the cast to play Jyothika's role, while a few changes were inserted to make it fit for the Telugu audiences. Pawan Kalyan had also insisted inserting few extra action sequences for the Telugu version, and despite an initial difference of opinions, Suryah eventually allowed the scenes to be filmed but refused to be at the shoot when they were shot. The film also titled as Kushi (2001), opened to positive reviews and went on to become the most successful Telugu film ever at release in June 2001. A film critic noted Suryah "has come up with another winner this time. There is no story in this film, but it runs with a neat screenplay", adding "he has done an extraordinary job as screenplay writer". He made a third version of the film, Khushi (2003) in Hindi, for producer Boney Kapoor, with Fardeen Khan and Kareena Kapoor starring. In comparison to the other two versions, the film received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office, with a critic writing "plenty of Suryah's scenes are also somewhat contrived, in the vein of those eighties family pot-boilers... [she] just cannot get effective emoting from his lead actors".