Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian film actor, screenwriter, producer and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting. Kamal Haasan has won several Indian film awards, including four National Film Awards and 19 Filmfare Awards, and is known for having starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to acting, screenwriting and directing, he has also featured in films as a songwriter, playback singer and choreographer. His film production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Indian cinema. Kamal Haasan is also a recipient of an Honorary doctorate by Sathyabama University. In 2009, he became one of very few Indian actors to have completed 50 years in cinema.

After several projects as a child artist, Kamal Haasan's breakthrough into lead acting came with his role in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He secured his second Indian National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless school teacher who tends a childlike amnesiac in 1982's Moondram Pirai. He was particularly noted for his performance in Mani Ratnam's Godfatheresque Tamil film Nayagan (1987), which was ranked by Time magazine as one of the best films of all time. Since then he has gone on to appear in other notable films such as Anbe Sivam and his own productions, Hey Ram and Virumaandi, as well as Dasavathaaram, in which he appeared in ten distinct roles.