Saravanan Sivakumar, known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian film actor, producer and television presenter, best known for his work in Tamil cinema.[3] After making his debut in Nerukku Ner (1997), Suriya landed his breakthrough role in Nandha (2001) and then had his first major commercial success with the thriller Kaakha Kaakha (2003). Following award-winning performances of a conman in Pithamagan (2003) and a hunchback in Perazhagan (2004), Suriya played a patient suffering from anterograde amnesia in the 2005 blockbuster Ghajini. He rose to stardom with dual roles of a father and son in Gautham Menon's semi-autobiographical Vaaranam Aayiram (2008). His status as an action star was established with roles of a smuggler in Ayan (2009), and an aggressive cop in the Singam trilogy (Singam, Singam II and S3). Suriya has also found success with science fiction films like 7aum Arivu (2011) and 24 (2016). As of 2017,[4] he has won three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards South.

Suriya is the eldest son of Tamil film actor Sivakumar and his younger brother Karthi is also an actor. Suriya married co-star Jyothika in 2006, after having been together for several years. In 2008, he began Agaram Foundation, which funds for various philanthropic activities. The year 2012 marked his debut as a television presenter with the Star Vijay game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, the Tamil version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. In 2013, Suriya founded the production house 2D Entertainment.