Vijay (Tamil: விஜய்), (born Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar on June 22, 1974) is a Tamil film actor and playback singer. He began his acting career doing minor, uncredited roles as a child artist, produced by his father S. A. Chandrasekhar. Today he is known for his pacy dance sequences and his stereotypical acting style. He is referred to as Ilayathalapathy (transliterally meaning "Young General"), which is always used along with his name in film credits[1].
Contents[hide]
1 Personal Background
2 Acting Career
2.1 Acting Style
2.2 Films
3 Awards
4 Singing Career
5 Filmography
5.1 As actor
5.2 As playback singer
6 References
7 External links
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Personal Background
Joseph Vijay was born on June 22, 1974 to film producer S. A. Chandrasekhar and Shoba Chandrasekhar, a playback singer. He had a sister named Vidhya who died at the age of two. Vijay studied Visual Communications at Loyola College, but dropped out to pursue an acting career. He was interestingly classmates with Surya Sivakumar, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja, and Vishnuvardhan.
He married Sangeetha on August 25, 1999. They have two children: Jason Sanjay, born on August 26, 2000 in London, and Divya Saasha, born on September 9, 2005 in Chennai.

Acting Career

Acting Style
He began his acting career doing minor, uncredited roles as a child artist in Kollywood. Today he is known for his pacy dance sequences and his stereotypical acting style. He is referred to as Ilaya Thalapathy, which is also always used along with his name in credits. One can expect Vijay films to contain the art of entertaining people with dialogues, songs, dances, and superhero fight scenes.
Vijay's films often open large in India and, more recently, in several other countries as well. Vijay's films are noted to have a minimum guaruntee of collection at box offices. Vijay's stereotypical style of entertainment is often compared to the styles of M. G. Ramachandran and Rajinikanth. This made many film critics to look apon Vijay as the successor of the two actors and christen him as the next super star of Tamil cinema.

Films
Vijay debuted as a lead role actor in the 1992 film Naalaya Theerpu, produced by his father, then he co-stared with Vijayakanth in the film Sendhoorapandi. This film helped Vijay to become popular in the interior areas of Tamil Nadu. Films like Rasigan, Vishnu, and Deva followed, which all helped to increase Vijay's star value. Vijay is also one of the few lead actors of his generation to co-star with veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan. This opportunity came in the film Once More, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar in 1994.
The year 1996 saw a blockbuster hit in the Vikraman-directed film Poove Unakkaga which helped Vijay to establish as a bankable star in Tamil films. He found more success with films that followed, which had an unorthodox climax like Love Today, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai and Priyamudan. Kadhalukku Mariyadhai made Vijay receive that year's Tamil Nadu state Best Actor Award.

Vijay during early 2000s
Following Thulladha Manamum Thullum, the films Endrendrum Kadhal, Nenjinile, Minsara Kanna and Kannukkul Nilavu failed to meet his previous success. He decided not to commit in films that took a year to release, which changed his trend. His next venture was Kushi which was a blockbuster of 2000. The following films like Priyamanavale, Friends and Badri were once again successful for Vijay
Later on, he starred in Shahjahan, Thamizhan, Youth, and Bagavathi which maintained Vijay's success. However, the films that followed, which were Vaseegara, Pudhiya Geethai, and his delayed film Udhaya became low grossers and flopped. This highly affected Vijay's success rate and he was looked down upon by film critics and producers.
His string of failure films was broken by Thirumalai in 2004 which had Vijay in a new facial appearance. Ghilli, which was also released in 2004, is considered to be one of Vijay's biggest hits today. Another hit had followed, which was Madhurey. It was in this year which Vijay began to portray his current mass-hero, stereotypical acting style. The following year had other major successes such as Thirupaachi, Sachein, and Sivakasi.

Vijay awarded by Kamal Haasan for the success of Pokkiri.
Vijay's only flop film since the release of Thirumalai was Aathi, which released in 2006. Aathi had created some controversy during that year and many film distributors decided on thinking twice before handling any new Vijay films. This resulted in Vijay taking a break from acting for nearly a year, until the launch of Pokkiri, directed by Prabhu Deva, which released in 2007. Pokkiri had met the same success as Ghilli did, in which Vijay was given a different style to act as. This made Vijay receive an honourary doctorate title from the M. G. R. University. Later that year, Vijay appeared in Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, and for the first time, he appeared in dual roles. His roles in this film, as the antagonist and protagonist, made him to be considered for a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award.
Vijay's latest film, Kuruvi, managed to release worldwide with much hype, making it one of the most successful movies of 2008. Directed by Dharani, Kuruvi also had Trisha Krishnan and Ashish Vidhyarthi in the cast and the film's score was composed by Vidyasagar, the same team that worked with Vijay in Ghilli four years ago.
Vijay is currently acting in Villu, again under Prabhu Deva's direction. The film is expected to be released in 2009. He will also make a special appearance in the film Pandhayam, starring Nithin Sathya and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar.

Awards
Tamil Nadu state's Best Actor Award in 1997 for Kadhalukku Mariyadhai

Vijay with the honourary doctor award, along with director S. Shankar.
Roja Duke's Best Actor Award for the film Kadhalukku Mariyadhai
M.G.R. Award in 2000
Dinakaran Best Actor Award in 2004 for Ghilli
Film Today Best Actor Award in 2005 for Ghilli
Honorary doctorate in 2007
Sunfeast Music Awards - Best Hero For The Film Pokkiri in 2007

Singing Career
Vijay also sang several songs in his own films. He has also lent his voice for songs for other actors, which were films produced by S. A. Chandrasekhar. Vijay's songs are often of ghaana-style folk beat type. The last song Vijay sang was Vaadi Vaadi from Sachien in 2005.

Filmography

As actor
Year
Film
Role
Notes
1992
Naalaya Theerpu
Vijay
1993
Sendhoorapandi
Vijay
1994
Deva
Deva
Rasigan
Vijay
1995
Rajavin Parvaiyile
Vijay
Dubbed into Telugu as Yuva Raktam
Vishnu
Vishnu
Chandralekha
Rahim
1996
Coimbatore Maaple
Vijay
Poove Unakkaga
Raja
Vasantha Vaasal
Vijay
Maanbumigu Maanavan
Shiva
Selva
Selva
1997
Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen
Kannan
Love Today
Ganesh
Once More
Vijay
Nerrukku Ner
Vijay
Kadhalukku Mariyadhai
Jeevanandam
1998
Ninaithen Vandhai
Gokulakrishnan
Priyamudan
Vasanth
Nilaave Vaa
Seluvai
1999
Thulladha Manamum Thullum
Kutty
Endrendrum Kadhal
Vijay
Nenjinile
Karunakaran
Minsara Kanna
Kannan
2000
Kannukkul Nilavu
Gautham
Khushi
Shiva
Priyamaanavale
Vijay
2001
Friends
Aravind
Dubbed into Telugu as Deviputrulu
Badri
Badri
Shahjahan
Ashok
2002
Thamizhan
Surya
Youth
Shiva
Bhagavathi
Bhagavathi
Vaseegara
Boopathy
2003
Puthiya Geethai
Sarathy
Thirumalai
Thirumalai
2004
Udhaya
Udhayakumaran
Ghilli
Saravanavelu
Madhurey
Madhurey
2005
Thirupaachi
Sivagiri
Sachien
Sachien
Sukran
Sukran
Cameo appearance
Sivakasi
Sivakaasi (Muthappa)
2006
Aathi
Aathi
2007
Pokkiri
Thamizh (Sathyamoorthy)
Azhagiya Thamizh Magan
Guru/Prasad
2008
Kuruvi
Vetrivel
Pandhayam
Vijay
Cameo appearanceFilming
2009
Villu
Pughazh
Filming
2009
Vettaikaran
Filming

As playback singer
Year
Song
Film
Other notes
2005
Vaadi Vaadi
Sachein
2002
Coca Cola
Bagavathi
2002
Ullathai Killadhae
Thamizhan
Sung with co-star, Priyanka Chopra
2001
Ennoda Laila
Badri
2000
Mississippi Nadhi Kulunga
Priyamanavale
1999
Thanganirathuku
Nenjinile
1998
Roddula Oru
Periyanna
Vijay did playback singing for this song for Surya Sivakumar
1998
Juddadi Laila
Periyanna
Vijay did playback singing for this song for Surya Sivakumar
1998
Thammadikkira Styla Pathu
Periyanna
Vijay did playback singing for this song for Surya Sivakumar
1998
Kalathukku Oru Gana
Velai
Vijay did playback singing for this song for Vignesh
1998
Chandira Mandalathai
Nilaave Vaa
1998
Nilave... Nilave
Nilaave Vaa
1998
Mowriya Mowriya
Priyamudan
1997
Oh Baby Baby
Kadhalukku Mariyadhai
1997
Akhila Akhila
Nerrukku Ner
1997
Oormilaa Oormilaa
Once more
Vijay sung this song together with his mother Shoba
1996
Chicken Karae
Selva
1996
Anjaam Number Bussil Yeri
Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen
1996
Thiruppathy Ponaa Mottai
Maanbumigu Maanavan
1995
Bomboi Party Shilpa Shetty
Coimbatore Maaple
1994
Thottabettaa Rottu Melae
Vishnu
Vijay sung this song together with his mother Shoba
1994
Adadaa Alamelu Aavin Pasumpaalu
Deva
1994
Koththagiri Kuppammaa
Deva
1994
Oru Kaditham
Deva
1994
Bomboi City Sukkha Rotti
Rasigan