Sathyaraj (born Rangaraj Subbiah) ~ Indian actor, producer, director, on October 3, 1954, in Coimbatore, India. Sathyarai has made approximately 200 films working mostly in the Tamil industry but has also worked in the Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada industries. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany, Sathyaraj left Coimbatore to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He joined a drama troupe and eventually made his film debut in a 1978 Kamal Haasan film ‘Sattam En Kaiyil’. In the early part of his career, he played mostly villains in action films. His break as a leading man came with ‘Saavu’ (1985), a remake of an American thriller, ‘Dial M for Murder’. Some of his well-known films include: ‘Kadalora Kavithaigal’ (1986) as the romantic lead, ‘Mr. Bharath’ (1986) as Rajinikanth’s father, ‘Vedham Pudhithu’ (1987), winning Filmfare Awards South for Best Tamil Actor, ‘Amaithipadai’ (1994) in a dual role as father and son, ‘Periyar’ (2007), a biofilm about social reformer and rationalist Periyar Ramasamy, ‘Onbadhu Roobai Nottu’ (2007), the life of a simple villager, and ‘Raja Rani’ (2013) Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor -Tamil. In 2015, Sathyaraj became popular all over India for his role as Kattappa, servant warrior, in Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘Baahubali” The Conclusion’ (2017). In 2018, Sathyaraj played the farmer father of a woman cricketer in ‘Kanaa’, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil. His son Sibiraj is also an actor, and they have acted in several movies together.
