SJ Suryah is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, producer, and music composer who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He also appeared in a few Telugu and Hindi movies as well. He made his acting debut with the Nethiyadi movie in 1988 and his directional debut with the Vaali movie. Suryah became famous for his antagonist role in movies like Spyder, Mersal, Don, and Mark Antony. He signed to play a prominent role in Dhanush‘s Raayan movie.
After his schooling, he moved to Chennai for his graduation with the hope of finding an opportunity to become an actor in Tamil films.
Before he joined as an apprentice under K Bhagyaraj, he worked in hotels as a steward, and he subsequently worked as an assistant director in the teams of Aasai in the year 1995 under Vasanth and in the movie Sundara Purushan in 1996 under Sabapathy.
While working with the team Ullaasam, he met actor Ajith Kumar he recognized Surya from their collaboration in Aasai, and he agreed to listen to his script.
Actor Ajith Kumar was impressed with his script, and he recommended S S Chakravarthy to produce the team, began to work on the movie Vaali in 1999. In this movie, Ajith Kumar, Simran, and Jyothika appeared in the lead role.
Then, the movie received critical acclaim among the people. Later watching the première show of Vaali producer A M Rathnam offered him a chance to direct another movie titled Kushi, which is a romantic comedy movie featuring Vijay and Jyothika materialised.
Later, this team approached Pawan Kalyan to star in a Telugu version of this movie, and after a positive narration session where Bhumika Chawla appeared in the lead role.
In 2001, he started his third movie, New, featuring Ajith Kumar and Jyothika in the lead roles. Composer Deva composed ten songs for that movie. After Ajith Kumar became busy with other movies, he decided to appear in the lead role himself, and he signed Simran for the female lead role with Kiran and Devayani.
Then, he directed the Telugu movie Naani, which featured Mahesh Babu with Amisha Patel, Ramya Krishnan, and Devayani in supporting roles.
In the following years, he directed and produced various movies, including Maha Nadigan, Puli, Nanban, Ishq Wala Love, and more, as well as served as music director.
Later in 2016, he feaured, in the Tamil movie Iraivi in this movie he featured as an alcoholic and abusive director with Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, and more which offered him a positive review among the people with that he nominated for the National Award as well.
Then he signed for two movie Spyder which is a bilingual movie and Mersal in these movies he featured in the Villain role.
The movie Spyder received a mixed response, but it failed at the box office. The movie Mersal became a blockbuster, and Surya’s acting was widely appreciated.
His Instagram account has over 325K followers (as of March 2024).
Movies
As Actor
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1988
Nethiyadi
Villager
Uncredited role
1993
Kizhakku Cheemayile
Bull trainer
Uncredited role
1995
Aasai
Auto driver
Uncredited Role
2000
Kushi
Pedestrian Crossing the road
Uncredited Role
2004
New
Pappu (Vishwanathan aka Vichu) & Jai
Debut film as a hero
2004
Maha Nadigan
Himself
Cameo
2005
Anbe Aaruyire
Siva & Siva's memory
2006
Kalvanin Kadhali
Sathya
2006
Dishyum
Himself
Cameo
2007
Thirumagan
Thangapandi
2007
Vyabari
Suryaprakash 1 & Suryaprakash 2
2009
Newtonin Moondram Vidhi
Guru
2010
Puli
Hussain
Guest appearance
2012
Nanban
Real Panchavan Pariventhan
Cameo
2013
Pizza II: Villa
Film director
Guest appearance
2015
Isai
A. K. Shiva
2015
Vai Raja Vai
Himself
Guest appearance
2015
Yatchan
Himself
Guest appearance
2016
Iraivi
Arul
2017
Spyder
Sudalai
Vijay Award for Best Villain
2017
Spyder
Bhairavudu
Telugu film
2017
Mersal
Daniel Arockiyaraj
SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role – Tamil
2019
Monster
Anjanam Azhagiya Pillai
2021
Nenjam Marappathillai
Ramaswamy "Ramsay"
2021
Maanaadu
DCP Dhanushkodi
2022
Don
Bhoominathan
2022
Kadamaiyai Sei
Ashok Mauryan
2022
Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie
SI Vivek
Web series on Amazon Prime Video
2023
Varisu
Aditya Mittal
Cameo
2023
Bommai
Raju
2023
Mark Antony
Jackie Pandian & Madhan Pandian
2023
Jigarthanda DoubleX
Kirubakaran "Kirubai" Arokiaraj "Kiruban" / Ray Dasan