Vijay is an Indian film actor. He began his career doing minor roles as a child artist in the Tamil cinema industry, while also attending a theatre for stage plays, to follow his dream to act.

After five years of minor and unnoticed roles in Tamil language films, Vijay gained Indian cinema's attention in 1996 by playing the role of Raja in Poove Unakkaga, his first blockbuster and since then he has acted in over forty Indian films, with his main intention being Tamil language ventures, earning him the title of Ilayathalapathy in 1996.

His most popular films include Poove Unakkaga (1996), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Kushi (2000) and Ghilli (2004).