Udhayanidhi Stalin

Udhayanidhi Stalin was born on 27 November 1977, to M. K. Stalin and Durga Stalin. Both his father and his grandfather M. Karunanidhi have served as chief ministers. He attended the Don Bosco school and has a degree in commerce from Loyola College in Chennai.^[2][3][4] His cousins Arulnithi and Dayanidhi Azhagiri are involved in the film industry.^[5]

Udhayanidhi founded the film production company Red Giant Movies in 2008 and the company's first film was Kuruvi (2008), starring Vijay.^[6][7] The company later produced Aadhavan (2009) and Manmadan Ambu (2010), directed by K. S. Ravikumar, and AR Murugadoss's science fiction film 7 Aum Arivu (2011).^[8][9] The company ventured into film distribution and released four films–Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa,^[10] A. L. Vijay's Madrasapattinam,^[11] M. Rajesh's Boss Engira Bhaskaran,^[12] and Prabhu Solomon's Mynaa in 2011.^[13]

In 2012, Udhayanidhi debuted as a lead actor in Rajesh's romantic comedy Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (2012), co-starring with Hansika Motwani and Santhanam. The film received positive reviews for his performance as an unemployed youth. Behindwoods noted that "Udhay's portrayal of Saravanan is neat and enjoyable", while Sify commented "Udhay's debut is promising and hats off to him to underplay his role".^[14][15] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his performance.^[16] The success of the film prompted him to continue acting in further movies and he appeared in the lead role in Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal (2014) and Nanbenda (2015), both films featuring him opposite Nayanthara.^{[citation needed]} His next film was the action film Gethu with Amy Jackson in 2016.^[17] In the same year, he acted in the courtroom drama Manithan (2016), a remake of the Hindi film Jolly LLB.^[18]

In 2017, Udhayanidhi worked in the comedy entertainer Saravanan Irukka Bayamaen from director Ezhil,^[19] followed by Podhuvaga Emmanasu Thangam.^[20] Later, he acted in the action thriller Ippadai Vellum in which his performance was described as decent.^[21] His next film was the drama Nimir (2018), a remake of Malayalam film Maheshinte Prathikaaram directed by Priyadarshan, which released to negative reviews.^[22] He later acted in the romantic drama Kanne Kalaimaane alongside Tamannaah, in which the performance of both the actors were praised.^[23] In 2020, he appeared in Mysskin's Psycho, a film based on the story of a serial killer, which received positive reviews.^[24] In 2022, he played the role of a police office in Nenjuku Needhi, a remake of the Hindi film Article 15.^[25] He starred in Magizh Thirumeni's thriller Kalaga Thalaivan, which was a failure in the box office.^[26] He made his final film appearance in Maamannan (2023),^[27] and announced his resignation from Red Giant Movies in July 2023.^[28]

Udhayanidhi contested and won from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituency in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.^[29] He introduced robotic sewer cleaners in his constituency for the first time in Tamil Nadu on 21 June 2021.^[30] On 13 September 2021, he was nominated as a member of Anna University's syndicate for a period of three years.^[31][32]

Udhayanidhi was sworn in as minister of Youth Welfare and Sports Development on 14 December 2022.^[33] In September 2024, he was appointed as the deputy chief minister, becoming the third person and the youngest to hold the office.^[34][35][36]

Udhayanidhi married Kiruthiga in 2002. They have a son named Inban and a daughter named Tanmaya. Kiruthiga, who heads the lifestyle magazine Inbox 1305,^[50] has also directed a few films.^[51] Inban was a football player,^[52][53] and later joined as the chief executive of Red Giant Movies in 2025.^[54] Udhayanidhi describes himself as an atheist.^[55]