Soori (actor)

Ramalakshmanan Muthuchamy (born 27 August 1977) professionally known as Soori, is an Indian actor and comedian who predominantly appears in Tamil film. Debuted in 1998 and acted in several uncredited roles and got his major breakthrough in 2009 with film Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, where he earned his identity Parotta Soori. After a decade of successful career as comedian, he turned as lead actor with Vetrimaaran's Viduthalai Part 1 (2023), which got a critical acclaimed. He is a recipient of a Tamil Nadu State Film Award and two SIIMA Awards.

Career
Soori moved from Madurai to Chennai in 1996 with the intention of becoming an actor in the Tamil film industry. After failing to get any roles, he took up work in the city as a cleaner to fund his acting ambitions.

He made occasional uncredited roles in films portraying a junior artiste who would appear in comedy scenes, appearing in films such as Winner (2003).

Soori appeared in Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009). He got the suffix "Parotta" to his name because of the 'parotta competition' scene in which he stuns the hotelier by eating 50 parottas and getting ready to eat the same number once again. He has appeared in Sundarapandian (2012), Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam (2013), Pandiya Naadu (2013) and Jilla (2014). He acted in Rajini Murugan (2016) Idhu Namma Aalu (2016), Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran (2016) and Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae (2017).

He was seen in Sivakarthikeyan's Seema Raja (2018) and Vikram's Saamy Square (2018). However, his performances in these two films were brutally criticised. Soori had back-to-back releases with Namma Veettu Pillai (2019) and Sangathamizhan (2019).

Soori played the main protagonist in director Vetrimaaran's period crime thriller Viduthalai Part 1 (2023). His performance garnered highly positive appreciation by critics as well as audiences.

Personal life
After watching Thalapathi, (1991) Muthuchamy adopted the protagonist's name Surya, which was shortened to Soori after he entered cinema. Soori belongs to a joint family with six siblings, he is married and has a son and a daughter.