Vikram aka Chiyaan is an Indian film actor who starred in a number of top-grossing Tamillanguage films and is currently one of the reigning lead actors of Tamil cinema. With numerous blockbusters to his credit, he has worked with several acclaimed directors, such as S. Shankar, Saran, and N. Linguswamy. Notable films that complete most of his filmography include Sethu, Dhill, Kasi, Dhool, Saamy, Gemini, Pithamagan and Anniyan.
Vikram was born at Paramakudi in 17 April 1966. Vikram did his schooling at Montfort School, Yercaud.While in School his love of drama and pursuit of a dream was nurtured. His parents wanting him to do his graduation after finishing his final high school year, he completed his graduation in English from Loyola College, Chennai and followed with an MBA degree. Vikram's father, Vinod Raj, is also a film actor. The two had starred in the same film for the first time in Kanthaswamy. Vikram's mother, Rajeshwari, is a retired sub-collector. Vikram married Shylaja, a psychologist, in 1992. They have two children, a daughter named Akshitha and a son named Druv.
Vikram started his career in 1990 with En Kadhal Kanmani which did not do well.Then went on to do more than a dozen movies which did not do well in box office. He then moved to Malayalam and acted in many movies in supporting roles. He starred in Ullasam along Ajith Kumar.This film was produced by Amitabh Bachchan. Still to taste success he acted in 1999 movie Sethu directed by first time director Bala which turned out to be a path-breaking effort in story telling and huge blockbuster, in which his acting won him critical acclaims. After few films not making much impact. He then acted in 2001 movie Dhill directed by his friend Dharani which did well commercially. In 2002 he started with a Malayalam remake Kasi,which won him Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award and did well at box office. He then acted in Gemini produced by AVM Productions which became a blockbuster.Later that year he acted in Samurai and King.
In 2003 Vikram acted in Dhool again with Dharani which was a blockbuster. He then acted in a family drama Kadhal Sadugudu which did not do well followed by Saamy directed by Hari where he played a cop turned another blockbuster for him.This film was produced by K. Balachander. Later that year he starred in Pithamagan directed by Bala which won him both Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award and National Film Award for Best Actor. This film did well at the box office. In 2004 he acted in Arul directed by Hari who gave saami. This movie did not do well at box office.
In 2004 it was announced that Vikram act in Anniyan directed by S. Shankar which released in 2005 was the most expensive then. In this film he played a person suffering from dissociative identity disorder as he plays three different personalities. This film was both critical and commercial success. He then did a family drama Majaa which did not do well. In later that year he announce his next film Bheema which was started on April 2006 but due to lack of funds the movie postponed and released in January 2008. Bheema became a commercial hit at the box office.
In 2008 he began acting in Kanthaswamy directed by Susi Ganesan and produced by Kalaipuli Thanu which released on 21 August 2009. Currently, Vikram is working on Mani Rathnam's forthcoming films Raavanan in Tamil and Raavan in Hindi, which are set to be released in 2010. He is also currently signed up for Boopathy Pandian's Raja Vesham, an untitled film with Selvaraghavan, and an Indo-Japanese high-budget film to be made in both Tamil and Japanese, titled The 19th Step, which has been shelved until further notice.