Suriya turns 49! From working as a merchandiser to his real name, 5 lesser-known facts about the Kanguva star

Fans of Suriya had some much-awaited happy news come their way on the occasion of the actor’s birthday. Director Karthik Subbaraj shared the official promo from Suriya’s 44th film, tentatively titled Suriya 44. The actor looks menacing as he walks in, flanked an army of goons. Suriya turns 49 Suriya last appeared in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Sarfira, the official Bollywood remake of Tamil-language, National Award winning blockbuster, Soorarai Pottru (2020) led the birthday boy himself. As he now gears up for the Dussera release of his next biggie, pan-India project Kanguva, here’s taking a look at some lesser known facts about the actor. Do you know Suriya’s real name?Undeniably, ‘Suriya’ has become a brand of his own. His strong legacy in films coupled with his appeal among the masses have cemented a permanent place for him in the world of Tamil cinema. That being said, Suriya isn’t just Suriya. Though people are used to referring to the actor as such, only real fans know that his full name is actually Saravanan Sivakumar. He was given the name Suriya director Mani Ratnam so that he had a chance of standing out among other actors. Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman, Karthi and Suriya Suriya never wanted to be an actorBeing the son of veteran actor Sivakumar, it was more or less a given that Suriya would in fact be following in his footsteps. But while everybody around him was sure that he would be make it to the silver screen, Suriya himself wasn’t all too convinced. As a matter of fact, being an actor was never really organically on his agenda. In an interview from 2010, Suriya revealed how his “reservations, insecurities and complexes” were what was detracting him from deciding to walk the chosen path. He eventually of course, managed to move past these hurdles and is now a National Award winning actor. Acting wasn’t Suriya’s first jobSuriya chose to be an actor after having committed to an alternate career for as long as 3 years. Fascinated the garment industry owing to his relatives who had a background in it, he worked as a merchandiser. However, the monotony eventually got to him. This is when he agreed to do a photoshoot at the behest of directors Mani Ratnam and Vasanth, eventually landing his first acting gig with 1997 Tamil film Nerukku Ner. Thalapathy Vijay and Suriya in Nerukku Ner (1997)(IMDb) Sivakumar used to take all key decisions early on in Suriya’s careerSivakumar used to have the final word on the kind of projects Suriya got involved in, early on in his career. This one time, the veteran actor insed that Suriya start work on a certain project as the director was already prepared with the storyboard. Lacking action and any other pull factors as per Suriya himself, the film flopped. It was at this point that he decided to take matters into his own hands, and begun making his own decisions when it came to films. Sivakumar with Suriya Suriya and Jyothika’s extensive professional horyBefore marrying each other on September 11, 2006 and commencing their lives together, Suriya and Jyothika shared an extensive professional hory, having worked together on as many as 7 films together. Their first film together was Poovellam Kettuppar (1999) and their last film together, before they tied the knot, was Silluni Oru Kaadhal (2006). They are now parents to daughter Diya, 15 and son Dev, 12.  We wish Suriya a very Happy Birthday!