Rajesh
Rajesh in 2018
Born	Rajesh Williams[1] (1949-12-20)20 December 1949 Mannargudi,Tanjore District, Madras Province,Dominion of India (now inThiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu, India)
Died	29 May 2025(2025-05-29) (aged 75) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974–2025
Spouse	Joan Sylvia ​ ​ (m. 1983; died 2012)​
Children	2
Family	Mahendran (cousin)[2]

Rajesh (20 December 1949 – 29 May 2025) was an Indian actor who performed in predominantlyTamil films and serials. He completed more than 50 years in films and appeared as lead roles and supporting roles in over 150 films.^[3]

Rajesh was born on 20 December 1949 to Williams Nattar and Lily Grace Mankondar atMannargudi,Tiruvarur district,^[4] his family hails fromAnaikkadu, inThanjavur district, India in aKallar (Thevar) family.^[3][5] He studied inDindigul,Vadamadurai, Melanatham Aanaikadu and ChinnamanurTheni district.^[6] After finishing hisPUC in Karaikudi Alagappa College, he joined Pachaiappas College, but did not complete his college education. He worked as a teacher in St Paul's High School,Purasawalkam and later at Kellett Higher Secondary School,Triplicane from 1972 to 1979.^[3]

In 1974, he got a chance to act in the filmAval Oru Thodar Kathai in a small role.^[3] His first film as a hero wasKanni Paruvathile (1979), produced by Rajkannu.^[5] Rajesh acted inAchamillai Achamillai, byK. Balachander. Later, he moved into playing character roles, and acted in movies withKamal Haasan likeSathya (1988),Mahanadhi (1994) andVirumaandi (2004).

Later in life, he was in the hotel and real estate business, and he was a leading builder in the city.^[3] He also wrote biographies of Hollywood actors in Tamil.

He was aChristian, later he was active in Periyaar's ideologies, then he involved himself inAstrology. He wrote many books and articles about astrology.

In 1983, Rajesh married Joan Sylvia, daughter of Mr. Eddy Firbank a renowned NRI who lived 30 years in Middle East. They had one daughter Divya^{[citation needed]} and one son Deepak, who made his acting debut in 2014.^[7] His wife died on 6 August 2012.^{[citation needed]}

He was the first Tamil actor to build a bungalow for the purpose of movie shooting in 1985 near KK Nagar, Chennai, which was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.^[8] Many Tamil, Malayalam andHindi movie shootings were completed in that house. He later sold it in 1993, while starting his real estate business. In the early 1990s, as advised by his friend Jeppiaar, he started a Real Estate business, then he started hotel and construction business. He was active in politics from 1987 to 1991, supporting Janaki. He was also a follower ofKarl Marx. He visited the UK and paid his tribute to the great leader.

Rajesh died from a heart attack inChennai, in the early hours of 29 May 2025, at the age of 75.^[9][10]

• All films are inTamil, unless otherwise noted.

• Rajesh atIMDb
• Rajesh at Cinesouth

• 1949 births
• 2025 deaths
• Male actors from Tamil Nadu
• Indian male voice actors
• Tamil male actors
• Indian male film actors
• Actors from Thanjavur district
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• 21st-century Indian male actors
• Male actors in Malayalam cinema

• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from March 2023
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• Use dmy dates from June 2025
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• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2025