Arun Vijay
Arun Vijay at Vaa Press Meet
Born	Arun Kumar (1977-11-19)19 November 1977 (age 48) Madras,Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	Loyola College, Chennai
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Aarathi ​ (m. 2006)​
Children	2
Parents	Vijaykumar Muthukannu
Relatives	Kavitha Vijayakumar (sister) Anitha Vijayakumar (sister) Preetha Vijayakumar (half-sister) Sridevi Vijaykumar (half-sister) Vanitha Vijayakumar (half-sister)
Family	Vijayakumar family

Arun Vijay (born 19 November 1977), formerly known asArun Kumar, is an Indian actor who works primarily inTamil cinema. He also starred in a few films inTelugu,Kannada andHindi.^[1]

Born as Arun Kumar and being the only son of veteran actorVijayakumar, he debuted inSundar C'sMurai Mappillai (1995).^[2] He received early success inThulli Thirintha Kaalam (1998) andPandavar Bhoomi (2001).^[3]

After a string of failures, he changed his name to Arun Vijay^[4] and achieved breakthrough success and recognition for playing lead roles inMalai Malai (2009),Maanja Velu (2010),Thadaiyara Thaakka (2012),Kuttram 23 (2017),Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018),Thadam (2019),Mafia: Chapter 1 (2020) andYaanai (2022).^[5] He is noted for his villainous roles inYennai Arindhaal (2015),Bruce Lee: The Fighter (2015) andChakravyuha (2016).

Arun Vijay was born on 19 November 1977 as the only son to actorVijayakumar and his first wife Muthukannu. He studied atDon Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School,Egmore. After completing his schooling, he joinedLoyola college for his higher studies.

Arun had a desire to act since childhood. He developed a strong interest by watching his father during film shoots. Arun started getting film offers when he was in tenth grade but his father wanted him to complete his schooling before acting in films.^[6]

Arun signed on for anA. R. Rahman musicalLove Story to be his acting debut, but the delay of that project meant that he accepted Anbalaya Films' offer ofSundar C'sMurai Mappillai (1995).^[2] He was 18 years old when he signed to act inMurai Mapillai. This made him one of the youngest actors to debut as a hero in the Tamil film industry.

In 1996, Arun's second film,Priyam, was released. He was seen for two filmsKathirunda Kadhal (1997) andGanga Gowri (1997).

In 1998, He played the lead role in directorBalasekaran's filmThulli Thirintha Kaalam. It was produced byKavithalayaa Productions, a company owned byK.Balachander.

In 2000, He featured in two films,Kannaal Pesavaa andAnbudan.^[7] His career hit a nadir whenBuddhan, a project which he had physically transformed for, was stalled and dropped in 2000.^[8]

In 2001, he played a civil engineer inPandavar Bhoomi, directed byCheran. This was the first movie in which Arun and his fatherVijayakumar acted together. This movie won theTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (Second Prize) in 2001.^[9]

Arun's next film wasMutham (2002). It was initially titledMuthamidalamma, but was changed after the censor screening. It was directed byS.A. Chandrasekhar and was the first film to be shot using digital cinematography in Tamil cinema.^[10] Arun had a special appearance inIyarkai (2003), which won theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.^[11]

He acted in directorRamesh Selvan'sJananam (2004). The film's actressPriyanka Trivedi could not fulfill her scheduled commitments in the film, as she got married in 2003.^[12] Critics appreciated Arun Vijay's acting in the movie.^[13] In 2006, he has given a matured performance inAzhagai Irukkirai Bayamai Irukkirathu.^[14] His next projects wasThavam (2007) andVedha (2008).

The first venture,Malai Malai (2009), directed byA. Venkatesh, became a commercial success. The next,Maanja Velu (2010), by the same team, was also a success. Arun Vijay appeared in Magizh Thirumeni's action-thrillerThadaiyara Thaakka (2012), marking a move away from his previous twoMasala films.^[15]

He starred inYennai Arindhaal (2015) with actorAjith Kumar. This was his first film with directorGautham Vasudev Menon. Arun played the role of Victor, an antagonist.^[16]

On September 1, 2015, He launched his own production company called In Cinemas Entertainment (ICE).^[17] He said that he launched the company to identify and provide an opportunity to ambitious and talented youngsters.^[18]

The same year, he debuted in Telugu in the filmBruce Lee - The Fighter (2015) as the lead antagonist. He also made hisKannada debut as the lead antagonist in the movieChakravyuha in 2016.^[19][20] His next,Kuttram 23 (2017), returning to lead roles, was a success at the box office.^[21] His next movie wasChekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018), which was directed byMani Ratnam with anensemble cast.

In 2019, he acted inThadam, an action crime thriller. He played his first double role in this film. This was also the second film in which he and Magizh Thirumeni worked together, afterThadaiyara Thaakka.^[22] The film was loosely based on various real-life crimes where the suspects areidentical twins.Thadam's biggest strength was Arun's convincing performance as Kavin and Ezhil.^[23] In the action thriller filmSaaho,Prabhas was the hero while Arun played a supporting role.^[24] In 2020, he appeared in action crime thrillerMafia: Chapter 1 that was directed byKarthick Naren. In the film, Arun Vijay played a narcotics police officer on a mission to hunt down a drug mafia kingpin.^[25]

In 2022, he appeared in theAmazon Prime Video filmOh My Dog. The cast included Arun Vijay, his fatherVijayakumar, and his son Arnav Vijay.^[26] The next wasYaanai an action drama film written and directed byHari.^[27] The next was released a Web SeriesTamil Rockerz^[28] and laterSinam an investigative whodunit thriller in which Arun Vijay plays a cop.^[29] In 2024,A. L. Vijay'sMission: Chapter 1 was released in theatres on January 12. Arun Vijay will be seen inBala'sVanangaan (2025) next.^[30] He did not perform as well as expected at the box office.^[31] He played the antagonist inIdli Kadai (2025), and his role inDhanush's directorial received great praise from fans and critics.^[32]

In 2006, Arun Vijay married Aarathi, daughter of film producer Dr. N. S. Mohan^[33] with whom he has a daughter, Purvi and a son, Arnav Vijay. In 2010, Arun Vijay's eldest sister Kavitha's daughter Hasini married N. S. Mohan's son Hemanth, who is a co-producer of Feather Touch Entertainments and also acted alongside Arun Vijay inMalai Malai.^[34] Arun Vijay's Hometown is Pattukkottai in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu.^[35]

• Note: He was credited as Arunkumar (sometimes Arun) from 1995 to 2006. He was credited as Arun Vijay from 2007 onwards.

All films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.

• Arun Vijay atIMDb

• 1977 births
• Living people
• Indian male film actors
• Tamil male actors
• Vijayakumar family
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• Male actors in Telugu cinema
• Male actors in Kannada cinema
• Male actors from Chennai

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