Devan Sreenivasan (born 8 January 1952) is an Indian film and television actor and politician. He is known for his character roles, mostly as villain, inMalayalam,Tamil,Telugu and a fewKannada andHindi films. He has starred in over 380 films.^{[citation needed]}

He began his film career as a producer withVellam (1985). Before its release, he turned into an actor. He made his breakthrough in the 1987 filmNew Delhi. He played lead roles in films likeOru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam (1987),Oozham (1988),Simon Peter Ninakku Vendi (1988) andAranyakam (1988). In his later career, he mostly played prominent supporting roles, mostly as villain. His well-known such films includeVietnam Colony (1992),Ekalavyan (1993),Honest Raj (1994),Baashha (1995) andIndraprasdham (1996).

Devan founded the political party Kerala People's Party in 2004. He relaunched the party as Nava Kerala People's Party in 2020, which was merged with theBharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) in 2021. In 2023, he was made the state vice-president of BJP inKerala.

Devan was born on 8 January 1952 inThrissur, India.^[1] His father, Sreenivasan, was apublic prosecutor, and his mother, Lalitha, was a doctor. He has three siblings: Shobha, Sheela, and Sureshbabu. Malayalam filmmakerRamu Kariat was his uncle.

Devan did his schooling at theGovernment Model School, Thrissur.^[2] He then completed hisB.Sc. degree fromSt. Thomas College, Thrissur. During his college time, he was a member of theKerala Students Union (KSU), and his parents wereIndian National Congress-leaning.

Devan's father wanted him to be a police officer, but he wanted to be in the army. After graduation, he tried at theNational Defence Academy but was not selected. He went toMadras (now Chennai) in search of a job and later took post-graduation inMaster of Business Administration.^[3] He was engaged in several business ventures before starting his career in movies.^[4]

During his time in college, he used to read books a lot. He found possibility for a film inN. N. Pisharody's novelVellam, he approached directorHariharan, who agreed with him,M. T. Vasudevan Nair wrote the screenplay, it was the first and last screenplay of his not based on his own story. Devan produced the film, filming was halted midway due to financial crisis. He made his acting debut inAshatapathi to raise fund to resume filming, it was followed by a number of acting projects. After which, shooting resumed, but upon release, the film failed at the box office. In an interview, he said thatVellam (1985) is the best film come out from Hariharan-M. T. Vasudevan Nair combination. It was in the 1987 filmNew Delhi that he first appeared as a villain, since then he wastypecast as a villain in Malayalam cinema. However, in Telugu cinema, he is known forcharacter roles. Devan recalled in an interview that his best roles were in Telugu and Tamil cinema.^[3]

Devan started his acting career in supporting roles, after being approached by a producer atSpencer Plaza inChennai.^[5] His most notable movies areEkalavyan,Baasha andIndraprasdham. He has also acted in several TV series.^[6]

He was married to his uncleRamu Kariat's daughter, Suma. The couple has a daughter named Lakshmi.^[7] His wife Suma died on 12 July 2019 due toH1N1 infection.^{[citation needed]}

Devan was active inKerala Students Union (KSU) in his college days. In 2004, he founded theKerala People's Party, a political party inKerala.^[8][9] He contested and lost in theWadakkanchery Assembly constituency by-election in the same year as an independent candidate. He contested in the 2006 assembly election fromThiruvananthapuram West as an independent candidate, but lost. In a 2014 interview, Devan revealed his admiration for politicianRamakrishna Hegde.^[3] In 2020, he formed a new party named Nava Kerala People's Party.^[10] In 2021, it was merged with theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence ofHome Minister of IndiaAmit Shah. In 2023, Devan was made the state vice-president of BJP in Kerala.^[8]

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

• Kerala Peoples Party

• Devan atIMDb
• Devan at MSI

• 1952 births
• Living people
• Male actors from Thrissur
• Indian actor-politicians
• Malayali politicians
• Male actors in Malayalam cinema
• Indian male film actors
• Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Kerala
• Politicians from Thrissur
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• 21st-century Indian male actors
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• Indian male television actors
• Male actors in Malayalam television
• Tamil male television actors
• Male actors in Telugu cinema

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