Arvind Swamy

Arvind Swami is an Indian film actor, model, entrepreneur and television presenter known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the film Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in successful films such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Minsaara Kanavu (1997) and Alaipayuthey (2000).
Swamy also starred in other ventures, including the Telugu film Mounam (1995), the Malayalam film "Daddy" (1992) and Devaraagam (1996), and the Bollywood film Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998). Swamy spent a decade in businesses ranging from software engineering, construction, international trade to global outsourcing, before returning to acting with works such as Kadal (2013), Thani Oruvan (2015), Dear Dad (2016), Dhruva (2016), and Bogan (2016). He is the host of the third season of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi on STAR Vijay.

Arvind Swamy was born in Chennai. His parents were industrialist V D Swamy and the Bharatanatyam dancer Vasantha Swamy. Swamy studied at the Sishya School and later in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School and completed his schooling in 1987. He then graduated from Loyola College, Chennai in 1990 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He then went to the United States to do his Masters in International Business from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Arvind Swamy wished to be a doctor. In college, he used to be a model for pocket money. In his Loyola Theatre Society, he wasn't well received and was asked to get off stage. Later on Mani Ratnam saw him in an advertisement and called for a meeting. Then he and Santhosh Sivan introduced him into the basics of film making.

Swamy made his début in Mani Ratnam's action drama film, Thalapathi, where he played a young district collector pitted against a don and his own biological brother. Subsequently, Mani Ratnam signed him on to play the lead role in the 1992 political drama film Roja. Roja and Bombay won awards at the State and National Film Award functions. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time Magazine. Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films. He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal.[1] In 1995, Swamy provided the Tamil dubbing voice for the adult Simba of Disney's The Lion King (1994). He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu, which won four National Film Awards besides high box office reviews.

Swamy semi-retired from acting in 2000 after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey and concentrated on his business interests. Swamy was director of V D Swamy and Company and engaged in international trade and construction. He was the president of InterPro Global and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing. He then founded Talent Maximus a company engaged in payroll processing and temporary staffing in India. He was the only actor in India who opposed fans associations.

He initially wanted to come back to films after 4–5 years, but was physically injured. The treatment took another 4–5 years. After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013) for which Swamy lost 15 kilograms.

In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon. In 2015, he acted in a negative role in Thani Oruvan, for which he was praised and received positive reviews for his acting.

After much speculation, the popular game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.

Swamy married Gayathri Ramamurthy in 1994 and has one daughter Adhira Swamy, born in 1996 and a son Rudra Swamy, born in 2000. The couple lived separately for seven years until 2010, when they filed for divorce. He is married to Aparna Mukerjee, a lawyer, since 2012. Arvind Swamy continues to live with his children.