Ilavarasu

He was born on 28 August^[3] 1964 in Melur, a town in Madurai district, present-day Tamil Nadu. His father P. Malaichamy served as a Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly during 1967-76 on behalf of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Malaichamy was also one of the DMK members jailed during the 1975-77 Indian Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).^[4]

Ilavarasu's debut film was to have been the unproduced Tamil film Top Tucker, and instead became Oru Kaidhiyin Diary (1984).^[5] He later worked in Bharathiraja's 1987 film Vedham Pudhithu.^[6]

He worked as an assistant to B. Kannan for the films Knock-Out (1992),^[7] Nadodi Thendral (1992), Captain Magal (1993), Karuthamma (1994) and Pasumpon (1995). He was credited as one of the main cinematographers for the latter four films although he worked as an assistant cinematographer.^[2] He made his debut as an independent cinematographer in 1996 with the film Panchalankurichi, starring Prabhu and Madhubala. The following year, he worked on another Prabhu movie titled Periya Thambi, directed by Chitra Lakshmanan. His breakthrough came with a significant role in Cheran’s Porkkaalam (1997), which propelled him into the spotlight as a recognized actor. In 1998, Ilavarasu served as the cinematographer for two films, Ninaithen Vandhai and Iniyavale. While initially offered villainous characters, he later shifted his focus to character roles.^[8] 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 include Bagavathi (2002), Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikecei (2006), Kalavani (2010), Lingaa (2014), Kanaa (2018) and NGK (2019).^[9]

In addition to his film career, Ilavarasu has also ventured into television, appearing in the 2022 series Anandha Ragam on Sun TV.^[10]