From MGR To Jayalalithaa And Vijay, Tamil Movie Stars Who Made It Into Politics
Tamil Actor Joseph Vijay on Friday announced his entry into politics with the launch of his political party, 'Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam' (Tamil Nadu Victory Party).
Vijay, who is popularly called Thalapathy (commander) by his fans said politics was not yet another vocation but "holy public service," as he announced his intention to contest the 2026 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.
The southern state is not stranger to actors entering into the political arena. In fact, some of the biggest names in Tamil politics were also film stars.
Here are some of the most famous Tamil actor-politicians
MGR
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran or MGR as he was popularly called, was a three-term Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from June 1977 till his death in December 1987. MGR, who is also the founder of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) began his political career in 1972 with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Before that MGR had a successful film career, that spanned close to four decades.
MGR who made his film debut in 1936 went on to become one of the biggest names in the industry and continued to be an actor till 1987.
Jayalalithaa
Jayaram Jayalalithaa who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for six terms also started her career in the film industry.
Jayalalithaa who began her acting career in 1960 as a child actor got her first lead role in 1965. Jayalalithaa who acted in about 650 films across Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi ventured into politics in 1982 with her most successful co-star MGR. Jayalalithaa joined AIADMK and after MGR's death became the general secretary of the party.?
Vijayakanth?
Vijayakanth popularly known as Captain was a Tamil politician and actor. He was the founder of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and has served as the Leader of the opposition in Tamil Nadu.
Vijayakanth, who was born Vijayaraj Alagarswami made a name for himself in the Tamil film industry.
Vijayakanth who made his film debut in Inikkum Ilamai in 1979 went on to star in hundreds of movies in a film career that spanned over four decades.
It was Captain Prabhakaran a 1991 movie directed by RK Selvamani which was also Vijayakanth's 100th film, which gave him the title "Captain".?
Napoleon
Kumaresan Duraisamy, better known by his stage name Napoleon is an actor who has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and English movies. Napoleon who made his film debut in 1991 acted in his first Hollywood movie Devil's Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge in 2019.?
He joined politics with DMK and was the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in the Manmohan Singh government between 2009 to 2013. Later he left DMK and joined BJP in 2015.
Kamal Haasan
Parthasarathy Srinivasan, better known as Kamal Haasan made his political debut with the formation of his party called Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) in 2018.?
Kamal Haasan, who was born as the son of a freedom fighter from Tamil Nadu made his acting debut as a child artist in 1960 at the age of six. Since then, Kamal Haasan, also called Ulaganayagan has acted in more than 230 films in different languages in a career that has spanned over six decades.
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