Joseph Vijay,[2][3] better known mononymously as Vijay, is an Indian film actor and playback singer who

works in Tamil cinema (Kollywood). His films are often dubbed into Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and
Mandarin Chinese.[4] He is one of the highest paid actors in Tamil cinema.[5] Vijay is referred to by the
media as Thalapathy (commander).[6][7][8][9] Including Indian diaspora worldwide and China[10] he
has significant following in Japan[11] and France.[12]

Vijay was born on 22 June 1974 as Joseph Vijay in Madras (now Chennai). Vijay is a Roman Catholic by
birth. He received his First Holy Communion at a Church in Chennai.[24] His father S. A. Chandrasekhar is
a Tamil film director and his mother Shoba is a playback singer and carnatic vocalist. He had a sister
Vidhya, who died when she was two years old. Vidhya's death affected Vijay very much. It has been said
by his mother that Vijay, who was very talkative, naughty and hyperactive as a child, became silent after
Vidhya's death.[25] His sibling Vidhya's story is depicted in the 2005 film Sukran, where Vijay played an
extended cameo.[26]

Vijay spent his entire childhood in Chennai. He did his schooling initially in Fathima Matriculation Higher
Secondary School[27] at Kodambakkam and later joined Balalok Matriculation Higher Secondary
School[28] at Virugambakkam and went on to pursue a degree in Visual Communications from Loyola
College, though he would eventually drop out as he was more interested in pursuing acting.[25]

Vijay married a fan of his,[29] Sangeetha[30] Sornalingam, a Hindu British Sri Lankan Tamil, on 25 August
1999[31] in both Hindu and Christian tradition.[citation needed] They have two children, a son Jason
Sanjay born in 2000 in London[32] and a daughter Divya Shasha born in 2005 in Chennai.[33] Jason
Sanjay made a cameo appearance with his father in Vettaikaaran (2009) and Divya Shasha portrayed a
small role as her father's pre-teen daughter in Theri (2016).

1984–1988 Child artist

At the age of ten, Vijay started his film career as a child actor in the film Vetri (1984) and then
performed as child actor in films such as Kudumbam (1984), Vasantha Raagam (1986), Sattam Oru
Vilayaattu (1987) and Ithu Engal Neethi (1988). He also performed as child actor in Naan Sigappu
Manithan (1985 film) co-starring Rajinikanth as lead actor.

1992–1996 Beginnings

After performing as child artist in the films directed by his father, Vijay started featuring in lead roles at
the age of eighteen from Naalaiya Theerpu (1992).[34] Vijay appeared alongside Vijayakanth in
Sendhoorapandi (1993), which performed well only to a certain extent at the box office.[35] In 1994, his
film Rasigan was released, which can be deemed as his first success but not acclaimed by critics.[36] This
was the first film in which Vijay was credited with the prefix illaya
Vijay started a social welfare organisation Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (Vijay People Organization), which was
officially launched at Pudukottai on 26 July 2009. It is responsible for much of his philanthropic work.
After Cyclone Thane, his Makkal Mandram administrators arranged for a relief camp at
Kammiyampettai, Cuddalore where the star provided rice to the affected people. Cuddalore was the
worst affected area in flooding and Vijay reached out to help these people by rendering some
assistance. The area in which the camp was built soon wore a festive look with thousands of people
gathering to catch a glimpse of their favorite star.[