Jiiva

Jiiva
Jiiva at Ko (film) shooting spot
Born	Amar Choudary (1984-01-04) 4 January 1984 (age 33) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Amar
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990, 1997, 2003–present
Spouse(s)	Supriya (2007–present)
Children	1, b. 2010
Parent(s)	R. B. Choudary Mahjabeen
Relatives	Jithan Ramesh (Brother)
Website	http://jiiva.weebly.com/

Jiiva, also written Jeeva, (born Amar Choudary on 4 January 1984) is an Indian film actor who predominantly appears in Tamil films. Son of film producer R. B. Choudary, he started his career as a child actor in his father's films in 1996.

He performed his first lead role in the 2003 romantic film Aasai Aasaiyai, before starring in Raam (2005), for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cyprus International Film Festival. In his subsequent films, he has taken on roles of various types such as a stuntman in Dishyum (2006), a slum dweller in E (2006) and a psychopath in Kattradhu Thamizh (2007).

Jiiva first appeared as a child artist in minuscule roles in two of his father's productions. He made his feature film debut as an actor in 2003 with Aasai Aasaiyai, and Thithikudhe (2003). His subsequent release, Ameer's mystery thriller Raam (2005) screened at the International Film Festival in Goa and later at the Cyprus International Film Festival, where he won the Best Actor award.

Jiiva next starred in Dishyum (2006). Later that year, Jiiva made his debut in Malayalam cinema with Major Ravi's war film Keerthi Chakra, which saw a dubbed release as Aran in Tamil Nadu. His final 2006 release was E. He then starred in Kattradhu Thamizh (2007), as a lower middle class post-graduate degree holder in Tamil literature, who gradually turns a psychopath, frustrated by the inequality in the social structure. Whilst the film opened to rave reviews, Jiiva's portrayal as Prabhakar was praised by critics and widely termed as the best in 2007; a Behindwoods review labelled it as "a performance of his lifetime", while Rediff wrote that he was "endearing as the young, vulnerable Prabha, [...] perfect as the ganja-smoking near-lunatic [...] and freaking brilliant as the frustrated Tamil graduate". "He was, in a nutshell, simply superb". Jiiva had grown a full length beard for the character and cited the hardships during the shoots of the film, which he considered as his most painful experience and a "torturous affair". He stated that he had to undergo therapy to "come out of the character" as it was "too emotional". Sify called the film a "commercial disaster."