Jayam Ravi

Biography

Mohan Ravi, professionally known by his screen name Jayam Ravi, is a Filmfare Award South-winning, Tamil Nadu State Film Award-winning Indian actor working predominantly in Tamil cinema, celebrated for his imposing physical stature, versatility across high-concept genres, and disciplined script selection. The son of veteran film editor Mohan, Ravi trained in martial arts and classical Bharatanatyam before graduating from the Visual Communication department of Loyola College and training at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute in Mumbai. Ravi made an explosive debut starring in the romantic action blockbuster Jayam (2003 directed by his brother Mohan Raja), earning his enduring moniker 'Jayam'. He established himself as a versatile leading star through a string of critical and commercial successes: M. Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi (2004, winning the Tamil Nadu State Film Special Award), Unakkum Enakkum (2006), Santosh Subramaniam (2008), and Peranmai (2009 as forest officer Dhruvan). In 2015, Ravi achieved peak critical and box office acclaim headlining Mohan Raja's intellectual action thriller Thani Oruvan as the righteous IPS officer Mithran, winning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Tamil. He pioneered new genres in Tamil cinema, starring in India's first zombie film Miruthan (2016) and space thriller Tik Tik Tik (2018). In 2022 and 2023, Ravi reached pan-Indian stardom playing the titular Chola emperor Arulmozhivarman in Mani Ratnam's historic two-part magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: I and Ponniyin Selvan: II. Jayam Ravi remains one of Tamil cinema's most bankable and respected leading stars.