Appukutty

Appukutty hails from a village Nathan Kinaru in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu. He moved to Chennai in 1994, initially in search of a job for survival only. Sivabalan was working as a cleaner in hotels, when he was spotted by film personalities and received acting offers from them.^[1] He then began acting in small character roles. In an interview in 2011, Sivabalan stated that he always wanted to be a comedian and that he had appeared in several minor roles for over 17 years,^[4][5] before gaining recognition in Suseenthiran's Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu.^[4] Suseenthiran went on to cast him in the lead role in his comedy drama film Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai (2011) for which he changed his stage name to Appukutty from Sivabalan upon . For his performance in the film, Appukutty won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, while the film was named the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment of 2011.^[6] In 2011 he also appeared in an important role in the film Kullanari Koottam and played a character role in Mohanlal's 300th film Snehaveedu.^[7] In 2012, he acted in Mannaru as lead role,^[8] next Sundarapandian as supporting cast.^[9] He also played with Ajith Kumar in movies such as Veeram (2014) and Vedalam (2015). He also played an important character in Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2022) directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon.^[10]