Shiva (actor)

Shiva's first film role was a supporting role in the 2001 film 12B, where he played debutant Shaam's friend.[8] He debuted as a lead actor in Venkat Prabhu's 2007 sports comedy Chennai 600028 alongside ten other debut actors. His next role, again under Venkat's direction, was the thriller Saroja. Both films were box office hits.

Shiva then starred in Thamizh Padam, a full-length parody of contemporary Tamil cinema, and his performance earned rave reviews. His 2010 comedy Va Quarter Cutting, was an average grosser. His first 2011 release became the long-delayed romantic drama Pathinaaru, which was his first non-comedy venture. During the period, he also completed another comedy film titled Siva Poojaiyil Karadi, by Rama Narayanan, but the film was never released.[9]

In 2012, he featured alongside Vimal in Sundar C's comedy film Kalakalappu, which won positive reviews and performed well commercially. Portraying the role of the small-time crook Raghu, critics noted that Shiva was the film's "scene-stealer" and "carries the first half with his quips".[10][11] The success of the film fetched the actor more scripts and Shiva went on to feature in four comedies in 2013. His first release Thillu Mullu, a remake of the 1981 Rajinikanth starrer, featured him alongside Isha Talwar and Prakash Raj and also fared well commercially. The actor also won positive portrayal of a conman with a critic noting that "Shiva has taken the entire film in his shoulders and has given his best. His comic timing is perfect and the one-liners are hilarious."[12][13] His second release of the year Sonna Puriyathu, where he played a dubbing artist, also won good reviews. Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu praised the actor's performance noting that "Nobody makes silly jokes work with a straight face like Shiva does", also that he is the "funny man pretending to be important."[14] The next release Ya Ya, featured him alongside Santhanam in the lead role. Shiva was next seen in Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's directorial debut Vanakkam Chennai, a romantic musical opposite Priya Anand. The film received positive to mixed reviews, but was a commercial success.

Shiva married his long time girlfriend and former national level badminton player Priya on 15 November 2012. They were blessed with a baby boy on 25 June 2019 whom they have named Agasthya[15]

• Shiva at IMDb