Ilavarasu
Born	(1964-08-28)28 August 1964 (age 60) Melur,Madurai District, Madras State (nowTamil Nadu),India[1]
Occupations	Cinematographer actor
Years active	1984–present
Parent	P. Malaichamy (father)

Ilavarasu is an Indiancinematographer and actor, who works in theTamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning aTamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known as an actor, after he appeared in pivotal roles inBharathiraja's andCheran's films. He starred in over 160 Tamil films, mostly in supporting and comedic roles.^[2][3]

He was born on 28 August^[4] 1964 inMelur, a town inMadurai district, present-dayTamil Nadu. His fatherP. Malaichamy served as aMember of theTamil Nadu Legislative Assembly during 1967-76 on behalf of theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Malaichamy was also one of the DMK members jailed during the1975-77 Indian Emergency under theMaintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).^[5][6]

According to T. Saravanan ofThe Hindu, Ilavarasu's debut film was to have been the unproduced Tamil filmTop Tucker, and instead becameOru Kaidhiyin Diary (1984).^[7] However, Malathi Rangarajan of the same paper says he first appeared in a minuscule role inBharathiraja's 1987 filmVedham Pudhithu.^[8]

He gained popularity as a cinematographer in 1996 with the filmPanchalankurichi, starringPrabhu andMadhubala. The following year, he worked on another Prabhu movie titledPeriya Thambi, directed byChitra Lakshmanan. His breakthrough came with a significant role inCheran’sPorkkaalam (1997), which propelled him into the spotlight as a recognized actor. In 1998, Ilavarasu served as the cinematographer for two films,Ninaithen Vandhai andIniyavale. While initially offered villainous characters, he later shifted his focus to character roles.^[9] The actor has shared screen with many actors in his career. Ilavarasu has played many versatile characters and has entertained the fans with his humour sense. He has also played villain roles in a few films. A few memorable roles of him includeBagavathi (2002),Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei (2006),Kalavani (2010),Lingaa (2014),Kanaa (2018) andNGK (2019).^[10]

In addition to his film career, Ilavarasu has also ventured into television, appearing in the 2022 seriesAnandha Ragam onSun TV.^[11]

• Ilavarasu atIMDb

• Indian Tamil people
• Tamil male actors
• Living people
• Tamil film cinematographers
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• Tamil comedians
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• 1964 births

• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• EngvarB from August 2014
• Use dmy dates from August 2014
• Articles with hCards