Sathyaraj

Sathyaraj
Sathyaraj in 2015
Born	Rangaraj Subbaiah (1954-10-03) 3 October 1954 (age 62) Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Other names	Rangaraj
Occupation	Actor, Film producer, Comedian, Director
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Maheswari (m.1979–present)
Children	Divya Sathyaraj Sibiraj

Rangaraj Subbaiah (born 3 October 1954), known by his stage name Sathyaraj, is an Indian film actor and media personality who has predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started his career in villainous roles and later played lead roles. He has acted in over 200 films, which include a few Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films as well. He is known for his performance in Amaidhi Padai, Nadigan, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored film Periyar among others. He was also the director of the film Villadhi Villain (1995), starring himself in three different roles.

Apart from his film career, Sathyaraj is known for being vociferous in the media about various issues, such as water rights in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism. In 2011, he had a brief career as a television host for the game show Home Sweet Home on STAR Vijay. He has also served as a brand ambassador for Pothys and Kumaran Jewelry Shop.

Sathyaraj was born as Rangaraj on 3 October 1954 to Subbaiyan and Nathambal, with two younger sisters, namely Kalpana Mandradiar and Roopa Senapathy (wife of Dr. Periannan Senapathy). He is an ardent fan of M. G. Ramachandran. Sathyaraj completed his primary school education in St Mary's Convent school, Coimbatore and later studied for tenth standard from Suburban High School, Ramnagar, Coimbatore. He went to Government Arts College, Coimbatore for a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany.

Sathyaraj's dream was to become a film actor, but his mother was against it and forbid him to join cinema. In 1976, in spite of his mother’s opposition, he left Coimbatore to enter the Tamil film industry based in Kodambakkam, Chennai.