Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, and currently serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha for Tamil Nadu. Regarded as one of the greatest and most versatile actors of all time, Haasan is renowned for portraying diverse and complex roles, across multiple genres, often involving physical transformations. He is also known for pushing creative boundaries and pioneering many new technologies in Indian cinema. Filmmakers have described Haasan as "cinema encyclopedia" for his immense knowledge and mastery of various aspects of filmmaking as an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer, lyricist, and dancer. He has also worked as an assistant director, choreographer, editor, make-up artist, narrator, television host, and a distributor of films. In his cinematic career spanning more than 65 years, he has made over 250 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali languages. Haasan has won numerous accolades, including five National Film Awards, twenty Filmfare Awards, eleven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, and four Nandi Awards. He was honoured with the Kalaimamani in 1978, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014, and the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier) in 2016. He was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2025 to become a member of its Actors Branch, for being an "exceptionally talented individual having made indelible contributions to global filmmaking community."