Vijay

Vijay (born June 22, 1974, Madras [now Chennai], Tamil Nadu, India) is an Indian actor-turned-politician who is the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. As an actor, he is known for his work in Tamil films and is regarded as one of contemporary southern Indian cinema’s biggest and most bankable stars. He is noted for his mass appeal and the frenzy he inspires among fans, who popularly refer to him as Thalapathy (“Leader”). He drew the curtain on his career as a lead actor with Jana Nayagan (2026; “People’s Hero”), which served as a cinematic preamble to his leap into politics. Vijay founded the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK; “Victory Party of the Tamilakam”), which made its electoral debut in Tamil Nadu’s 2026 legislative assembly elections, emerging as the single largest party in the state.

Early life and career

Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar was born to filmmaker S.A. Chandrasekhar and singer Shoba Chandrasekhar. Acting was an obvious career choice for Vijay, and he began as a child star with a role in Vetri (1984; “Victory”), directed by his father. He continued to act in S.A. Chandrasekhar’s films through the 1980s, and he was launched as a lead actor in the commercially unsuccessful Naalaiya Theerpu (1992; “Tomorrow’s Verdict”), also directed by his father. His talent was noticed, and he was cast as the romantic lead in films such as Rasigan (1994; “Admirer”) and Deva (1995). He rose steadily to fame, and his performance in Poove Unakkaga (1996; “For You, Flower”), a film about love transcending religious divides, was particularly well received. The turning point in his career was Thirumalai (2003), in which he played a mechanic battling a gangster hired by the father of the woman he loves.

Rise to stardom

Thirumalai was pivotal to Vijay’s transformation from the romantic hero of such films as Kushi (2000; “Happiness”), in which his character falls in love with his college mate, into an action star embodying a grittier screen persona. Through the 2000s he took on roles that presented him as the “angry young man,” a type of brooding and cynical protagonist made popular by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s. Vijay played several variations of the rebel with a cause, most often social or political justice. In the blockbuster Ghilli (2004) he starred as the unregarded son of a top police officer, with whom he clashes after being falsely accused of kidnapping a woman. His characters were sometimes morally dubious or transgressive, such as in the superhit Pokkiri (2007; “Rogue”), in which he commits several crimes as an undercover police officer on assignment in an organized crime gang.

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Box office dominance

Through the 2010s Vijay gradually refined his socially conscious roles with a macho, virile energy that accelerated his superstardom. In Thalaivaa (2013; “Leader”) he rises to become a crime boss after the murder of his father. He starred as an army officer tracking a terrorist cell in Thupakki (2012; “Gun”), played the dual roles of an activist and a reformed criminal in Kaththi (2014; “Knife”), and tackled medical corruption in the triple role of a father and two sons in Mersal (2017; “Stunned”). In Bairavaa (2017) his character is a debt collector who takes on a gangster-turned-educator. In Bigil (2019; “Whistle”) he was cast as a soccer player who gave up his career to take over his dead father’s crime empire and is given a second chance as coach of a women’s soccer team. Vijay’s success was not limited to the action genre; the comedy Nanban (2012; “Friend”), a remake of Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots set in an engineering college, was one of the biggest hits in his career.

Vijay continued to be a box-office draw in the 2020s with Master (2021), Beast (2022), and Varisu (2023; “Heir”). He played a mild-mannered cafe owner with a secret criminal past in the blockbuster Leo (2023), which is ranked among the 25 highest-grossing Indian films. Leo was followed by The Greatest of All Time (2024), after which Vijay announced that his 69th film, Jana Nayagan (scheduled for 2026), would be his last. He was reportedly paid a fee of 275 crore rupees (more than $30 million) for Jana Nayagan, making him one of the highest-paid actors in India.

Political career

Vijay is among a handful of southern Indian film stars held in almost religious reverence by their fans; like Rajinikanth’s films, a Vijay film is heralded by puja ceremonies, special screenings, and festivities that include drumbeats and garlands. Many of these cinematic icons, among them M.G. Ramachandran and Jayaram Jayalalithaa, have opted to transform their stardom and fan base into a political constituency. Indications of Vijay’s political ambition were evident in films such as Sarkar (2018; “Government”), in which he plays a businessman who runs for office after confronting electoral fraud.

In 2024 he officially made his career pivot by forming the political party TVK, which contested the 2026 assembly election in Tamil Nadu. His incipient political ascent was marred by tragedy: 41 people died and more than 80 were injured in a stampede at a TVK rally in 2025. Yet his popularity fueled a stellar electoral debut, with his party emerging as the single largest in the result, winning 108 out of 234 seats. The result established the TVK’s credentials as an alternative to the state’s two historically dominant parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Vijay ran for office from two constituencies—Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East—and won both. To reach the majority mark of 118 seats the TVK allied with the Indian National Congress and other parties. Vijay was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu on May 10, 2026.

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