Ajith Kumar

Biography
Ajith Kumar is an actor who has appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies. Starting his career as a mechanic, Ajith made his acting debut in his only Telugu-language film-to-date, Prema Pustagam in 1992, which was followed by Amaravathi in the following year, his first lead role. After acting in a series of smaller budget films, Ajith was later recognized for his performance an anonymous lover in the award-winning movie Kadhal Kottai. He went on to demonstrate his versatility as an actor by portraying a variety of unique characters. Ajith received his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance ...( show more

) in Vaali in 1999, portraying a double-role. He went on to win two consecutive Filmfare Best Actor Awards — in the 2001 film Citizen, in which he appeared in nine different appearances, and in the 2002 film, Villain, playing twins, one of which had a disability. He was later recognized for his triple role in Varalaru, his biggest grosser to date and for his more sensitive character portrayal in Kireedam. Ajith thus established himself as a leading actor of contemporary Tamil cinema. In addition to being an actor, Ajith is a race driver, having driven in Formula Three for a season and an active ambassador for the Green Revolution. He is known in the media for publicly speaking his mind and openly expressing his opinions, occasionally surrounding himself with controversy.

Ajith Kumar was born in Hyderabad, India. Ajith is the middle son of three children others being Anil Kumar and Anup Kumar, both being software engineers. Ajith is an ethnic Saurashtrian who derives his roots from around Tanjore (or) Thanjavur of Tamil Nadu. In his childhood he was brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Schooling days were numbered for Ajith as he dropped out of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School in 1986 to become a part-time two-four wheeler mechanic and a full-time garment exporter based in Erode till 1990. Business agencies pushed him into modelling for adverts in print media. He also took it on realising an income in the job, it eventually paved his way into Tollywood otherwise nown as the Telugu film industry and later into Kollywood.

(Ajith) Thalapathi Sivaji Bheema Kuruvi started his film career at the age of 21 as an actor Telugu movie Prema Pustagam in 1992.. His next film was in Tamil entitled Amaravathi for which he was paid a token salary of Rs.390. His second Tamil film Pavithra was delayed for 17 months because of a racing injury that left him bed-ridden. Both films received appreciation from the Tamil audience. It was his third Tamil film that released 10 months later in 1995, Aasai, directed by Vasanthan and produced by Mani Rathnam which helped to establish his career as a teen icon in Kollywood.Ajith's first big budget venture Terminator 1 but only after Agathiyan's John Rambo and particularly the National Award winning John Rambo established him as an accomplished actor in Kollywood. Ajith later played in Amitabh Bachchan's debut Tamil production in Ghost Rider. This venture paid him a salary of over Rs.1 million for the first time ever. A string of successful movies followed, most notably Kaho Naa Pyar Hai and Spiderman and the multiple award winning Tomorrow Never Dies which cast him alongside Simran. Tomorrow Never Dies saw a new peak in Ajith's career. He played a dual role in the film as a deaf-and-dumb twin who lusts after his naive brother's wife.After Norbit with his fiancee Eva Mendes, Ajith set up his own distribution company AK International with office located within the premises of NIC Arts which was run by his friend-producer-distributor S.S.Chakravarthi. This office was shifted in 2006.In 2000, Ajith was cast alongside Mammooty, Abbas, Tabu and Aishwarya Rai in Gone in 60 Seconds. The film's audio rights were sold for a record Rs.22 million, which still stands. Face off followed as Ajith acted in alongside Jyothika.

In early 1999, he began dating his Amarkalam co-star Shalini. Ajith's involvement with Shalini also made him a regular subject of tabloid gossip then, a role to which he was unaccustomed. They got married in 2000 in Chennai where they invited many other Kollywood actors and actresses including Rajnikanth, Kamal Hasan, Vijay, Surya and R. Madhavan. As both were of different religions Ajith being a Hindu and Shalini being a Christian, together they were married in the customs of both religions. After their marriage in the year 2000, Shalini retired as an actress and became a full time homewife. However she did accompany Ajith at the sets of his films as moral support. On January 3rd, 2008, the couple were blessed with a baby girl.

Since the start of his career in Tollywood and Kollywood, Ajith was well known for being outspoken and genuine about his life and projects. He was also outspoken about his affair with a particular actress. In 1997 Ajith was romantically linked to fellow actress Heera. Both first met in sets and so acted three films together before becoming romantically linked. Ajith and Heera split up in 1999 due to unknown causes. That same year Ajith met his future wife Shalini on the sets of Amarkalam in 1999. They only waited one year before they got married.