1. Kavithalaya Krishnan
T. Krishnan is a renowned actor who is popularly known as Kavithalaya Krishnan, due to his affiliation with Kavithalayaa Productions, owned by Tamil producer-director K. Balachandar who has produced many successful Tamil films and television serials. Krishnan is well-known for his superb acting in numerous supporting roles in TV serials and films here.
He was studying at the College of Engineering of Guindy, where he became friends with a classmate Mohan Rangachari, who later came to be known as Crazy Mohan – a famous Tamil comedy actor cum writer of plays and scripts. Mohan inspired his friend to start acting in the plays written by him, to be staged for Arts Society of Engineering College and both of them won several awards in college for their talents. But this was not the first chance that Krishnan won award for acting, because earlier he won prizes in school dramas when he was a student of St. Bede’s Anglo Indian School of Santhome. Though none of his family was ever in acting, he enthusiastically started a theatre group with Crazy Mohan, which was named Crazy Creations.Â
His film career started when director K. Balachandar chose their play ‘Marriage Made in Salon’ to make a film named ‘Poikaal Kudirai', where he casted Krishnan in the same role which he played in the drama. From then onwards, he acted in 80 films and 60 Television serials till now, not counting more than 1000 stage shows where he was similarly applauded by the audience. His other popular films are ‘Sindhu Vairavi’, ‘Vaakumoolam’, `Avvai Shanmugi',`Natpukkaga' and `Manadhil Urudhi Vendum'. His own most favorite TV serials where he worked successfully are `Kai Alavu Manasu', `Marma Desam', `Inai Kodugal' and `Aridharam Poosiya Uravugal'. His recent serial ‘Selvi’ is also a super hit among the common people. Apart from Balachandar, he also worked with other prominent directors like Mani Ratnam, S.P. Muthuraman, Suresh Krishna and Vasanth. His brilliant performance in acting earned him the prestigious Kalaimamani Award in 2005, given by Tamil Nadu Government. He also received Mylapore Fine Arts Academy Award 9 times till now!