Sivaji Ganesan

Vettaithidal Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema and theatre during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ganesan is acknowledged as one of the greatest Indian actors of all time and among the most imitated one by other actors. He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which also gave him the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam (transl. the pride of actors). In a nearly five-decade career, he acted in 288 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. He is the only actor in Tamil cinema to have played the lead role in over 250 films.

Ganesan was the first Indian actor to win the "Best Actor" award at an international film festival, at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Cairo, Egypt in 1960. Many leading South Indian actors have stated that their acting was influenced by Ganesan. In 1997, Ganesan was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for films in India. He was also the first Indian actor to be made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In addition, he received National Film Award (Special Jury), four Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

Ganesan is remembered as an iconic figure of Tamil cinema. Upon his death, the Los Angeles Times described him as "the Marlon Brando of South India's film industry".

In his career, he mostly paired with K.R. Vijaya, Padmini, Savitri, B. Sarojadevi, P. Bhanumathi and also worked alongside several writers and co-stars who later became Chief Ministers: C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, MGR, NTR, J. Jayalalithaa, and Vijay.