Life History

Ajith Kumar (Tamil: அஜித் குமார்) (born May 1, 1971) is an Indian film actor and car racer, who has acted in many Tamil, as well as, Telugu and Hindi movies. Ajith Kumar made his acting debut in his only Telugu-language film-to-date, Prema Pustagam in 1992, which was followed by a Tamil film Amaravathi in which he acted his first lead role. After acting in a series of smaller budget films, Ajith was later recognized for his performance as an anonymous lover in the award-winning movie Kadhal Kottai. He went on to demonstrate his versatility as an actor by portraying a variety of unique characters.
Ajith received his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Vaali in 1999, portraying a double-role. He went on to win two consecutive Filmfare Best Actor Awards — in the 2001 film Citizen, in which he appeared in nine different appearances, and in the 2002 film, Villain, playing twins, one of which had a disability. He was later recognized for his triple role in Varalaru, one of his biggest blockbuster releases to date. He was recognized for his more sensitive character portrayal in Kireedam. Ajith thus established himself as one of the leading actors of contemporary Tamil cinema.
In addition to being an actor, Ajith is a professional race driver, having driven in Formula Three for a season. He is also an active ambassador for the Green Revolution. He used to be known in the Indian media for publicly speaking his mind and openly expressing his opinions, occasionally surrounding himself with controversy. However, in recent years, he has maintained a more silent status quo to avoid the problems that come with a controversial image.

Early life

Ajith Kumar was born as the middle child in Hyderabad, India to a Tamil father and a Sindhi mother[1]. However he has strong ties to the Tamil culture and society as he grew up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He dropped out of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School in 1986 to become a full-time garment exporter based in Erode till 1990. Several business agencies pushed him into modelling for advertisements in print media

Romantic hero (1992-2000)
Ajith started his film career at the age of 21 as an actor in the Telugu movie Prema Pustakam in 1992.[2] His next film was the hit Tamil film Amaravathi. And his second hit film was the Tamil film Pavithra. Both of these films did well at the box office, and had an vast appreciation from the Tamil audiences. But it was the blockbuster film Aasai, released in 1995 and directed by Vasanth had established his career as a leading actor in Kollywood.[3]Ajith's first big budget venture was Aasai. But it was only until the release of the National Award winning Kadhal Kottai which was his biggest blockbuster ever in his career, released in 1996. Ajith later played the lead in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production[4] Ullasam. This venture paid him a salary of Rs. 5 million for the first time ever.
A string of very successful movies followed, most notably Kadhal Mannan and Vaali which cast him alongside Simran. Vaali saw a new peak in Ajith's career. He played a dual role in the film. One as a deaf-and-dumb twin who lusts after his naive brother's wife .[5][6]After Amarkalam[7] with his then-fiancee, now wife Shalini, Ajith set up his own distribution company AK International with the office located within the premises of NIC Arts which was run by his ex-friend, producer and distributor S. S. Chakravarthi. This office was shifted in 2006. In 2000, Ajith was cast alongside Mammooty, Abbas, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai in KandukondainKandukondain. Mugavari followed as Ajith acted alongside Jyothika Saravanan.

Ups and downs (2001-2005)
In 2001 , Ajith played the role of Shahrukh Khan's brother in the commercially unsuccessful historical film Asoka. He began the year with the scintillating movie Dheena directed by A. R. Murugadoss. This movie showed Ajith as a rowdy and he acted alongside Suresh Gopi and Laila Mehdin. Citizen opposite Vasundhara Das was experimentally successful and earned the actor with lot of appreciation and awards but the movie failed to mark it's signature in the box office, Citizen was followed by Poovellam Un Vaasam which was also an average grosser. The film Raja opposite Jyothika Saravanan and the action flick Red [9] proved to be a disaster for the actor and marked the downfall and an proved to be an all time low in the actor's career.
In 2003 and 2004, Ajith acted in Anjaneya, Jana and Attagasam opposite Meera Jasmine, Sneha, and Pooja Umashankar respectively. While Anjaneya and Jana flopped at the box office, Attagasam became a blockbuster, also giving a successful soundtrack album. He later went on to act in the film Ji which opened very well but failed to sustain success in the longrun.


Billa and the future (2006-present)
During 2006, Ajith acted in 3 projects. First he acted in Paramasivan directed P. Vasu and then in Thirupathi directed by Perarasu. Both were below average. Later that year he released his 3 year-pending project Varalaru: History of Godfather directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Varalaru turned out to be a super hit movie in terms of collection due to the three roles he played as an old man who was once a classical dancer and two identical twins, with one being the antagonist.
Ajith's first film in 2007 was with the newcomer director Chella in his maiden film entitled Aalwar. Aalwar did not live up to the expectations created by the success of Varalaru. As a result it was a major let down for Ajith. After Aalwar, Ajith acted in a remake of a 1989 National Film Award winning Malayalam film, Kireedam with Trisha Krishnan. The film was produced by Adlabs and marked the production company's entry into Kollywood. With a few controversies regarding the film's immensely emotional climax, it was appreciated for Ajith's excellent performed and it was an average movie of that year. On the sets of this film, Ajith sustained a recurring spinal injury.In December 2007, Billa its large international released since it was the remake of the 1980 Rajinikanth-starrer Tamil film of the same name which itself was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1978 Hindi film Don which in turn was remade by Shah Rukh Khan in 2006 as Don again. The movie was a box office hit and it was well appreciated for it's excellent cinematography and it's stylishnes.
After Billa, Ajith acted in the film Aegan, which was directed by the choreographer turned director Raju Sundaram. Ajith is currently acting in the film Asal which is being directed by Saran, making Asal their fourth film together.


[] Filmography
Year
Film
Role
Notes
1992
Prema Pustagam
Siddharth
Telugu film
1993
Amaravathi
Arjun
1994
Paasamalargal
Kumar
Pavithra
Ashok
1995
Rajavin Parvaiyile
Chandru
Aasai
Jeeva
1996
Vaanmati
Krishna
Kalloori Vaasal
Vasanth
Minor Maappillaigal
Sunil
Kadhal Kottai
Surya
1997
Nesam
Nathan
Raasi
Kumar
Ullasam
Guru
Pagaivan
Prabhu
Rettai Jadai Vayasu
Sivakumar
1998
Kadhal Mannan
Shiva
Aval Varuvala
Jeeva
Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen
Sanjay
Guest appearance
Uyirodu Uyiraga
Ajay
1999
Thodarum
Anand
Unnai Thedi
Raghu
Vaali
Shiva/Deva
Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
Anandha Poongatre
Jeeva
Nee Varuvai Ena
Subramani
Guest appearance
Amarkalam
Vasu
2000
Mugavari
Sridhar
Kandukondain Kandukondain
Manohar
Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Supporting Actor Award
Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven
Surya
2001
Dheena
Dheena
Citizen
Citizen/Subramani
Poovellam Un Vasam
Chinna
Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Special Award for Best Actor
Asoka
Suseema
Nominated: Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Negative RoleHindi film
2002
Red
Red
Raja
Raja
Villain
Shiva/Vishnu
Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
2003
Ennai Thalatta Varuvala
Ajith Kumar
Guest appearance
Anjaneya
Paramaguru
2004
Jana
Jana
Attagasam
Guru/Jeeva
2005
Ji
Vasu
2006
Paramasivan
Paramasivan
Thirupathi
Thirupathi
Varalaru
Shivshankar/Vishnu/Jeeva
Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
2007
Aalwar
Shiva
Kireedam
Sakthivel Rajarajan
Billa
David Billa/Saravana Velu
Nominated: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
2008
Aegan
Shiva
2009
Asal
Filming