R Amarendran (known also as Amarendran Ramanan or Amar) is a theatre director and actor who has directed and acted in several plays in English and French staged in Chennai and Pondicherry and other locations. R. Amarendran love for acting started from 1984 when he acted in his college plays. He later acted in English plays for several theatre groups in Chennai. In 1989 he was one the 4 Indians to be selected by the French government to go the L'ecole Nationale d'art Dramatique at the Theatre National de Strasbourg in France to train in acting and to act in a French play that was staged in Delhi, Calcutta and Strasbourg. On his return from France he acted in several plays and in 1992 he founded the Theatre Arlequin and staged more than 25 productions of English and French plays in Chennai and Pondicherry. He still acts in plays when time permits. His film career started in 2008 when he landed the main villain’s role in the movie Bale Pandya directed by Siddharth Chandrasekhar.
He has also acted in a major role in the critically acclaimed Vidiyum Munn and played a small role as Pi´s school teacher in the multi-Oscar winner Hollywood film Life of Pi. Amarendran is based in Chennai, India and founded the theatre group Theatre Arlequin. Amarendran has also authored the children´s book Siri´s Smile in English which has been translated into several Indian languages.Recently he authored another children's book called Salim the Knife-Sharpener. He has also worked in Jil Jung Juk and his recent work is seen in the blockbuster movie Kabali