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About this Episode
pWotD Episode 3290: Vijay (actor)
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.
With 519,672 views on Tuesday, 5 May 2026 our article of the day is Vijay (actor).
Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay (born 22 June 1974) is an Indian actor and politician who has served as the Chief Minister-designate of Tamil Nadu since 2026. He is the founder and leader of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, which emerged as the single largest party in its debut election in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.
In a career spanning over three decades in Tamil cinema, Vijay has appeared in 69 films as a lead actor and is among the highest-paid actors in India. He is widely regarded as one of the most commercially successful actors in the industry, with several of his films ranking among the highest-grossing Tamil films. He has received numerous accolades, as listed in his awards and nominations.
Popularly referred to as "Thalapathy" (Tamil for "Commander"), he enjoys a significant fan following.
Vijay made his debut as a child actor in the Tamil film Vetri (1984). After playing as a child actor in few of the films directed by his father, he played his first lead role in the film Naalaiya Theerpu (1992) at the age of 18. He continued doing lead roles for the next few years and notable films amongst them included Poove Unakkaga (1996), Love Today (1997), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Thullatha Manamum Thullum (1999), Kushi (2000), Priyamaanavale (2000) and Friends (2001).
He starred in the commercially successful action films Thirumalai (2003) and Ghilli (2004), transitioning away from romance films. With subsequent successes of Thirupaachi (2005) and Pokkiri (2007), he established himself as one of the leading and commercially successful actors in Tamil cinema. Following a period of moderate success, Vijay acted in several critically and commercially successful films starting from the early 2010s including Thuppakki (2012), Kaththi (2014), Mersal (2017), Sarkar (2018), Master (2021), Beast (2022), Leo (2023), and The Greatest of All Time (2024).
In February 2024, Vijay announced his retirement from films and his entry into politics with the launch of his political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. His final film Jana Nayagan is yet to release. In the 2026 Assembly election, his party emerged as the single largest in the assembly, though it was not able to reach the majority mark.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:42 UTC on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Vijay (actor) on Wikipedia.
This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.
Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.
Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.
Until next time, I'm long-form Ruth.
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.
With 519,672 views on Tuesday, 5 May 2026 our article of the day is Vijay (actor).
Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay (born 22 June 1974) is an Indian actor and politician who has served as the Chief Minister-designate of Tamil Nadu since 2026. He is the founder and leader of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, which emerged as the single largest party in its debut election in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election.
In a career spanning over three decades in Tamil cinema, Vijay has appeared in 69 films as a lead actor and is among the highest-paid actors in India. He is widely regarded as one of the most commercially successful actors in the industry, with several of his films ranking among the highest-grossing Tamil films. He has received numerous accolades, as listed in his awards and nominations.
Popularly referred to as "Thalapathy" (Tamil for "Commander"), he enjoys a significant fan following.
Vijay made his debut as a child actor in the Tamil film Vetri (1984). After playing as a child actor in few of the films directed by his father, he played his first lead role in the film Naalaiya Theerpu (1992) at the age of 18. He continued doing lead roles for the next few years and notable films amongst them included Poove Unakkaga (1996), Love Today (1997), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Thullatha Manamum Thullum (1999), Kushi (2000), Priyamaanavale (2000) and Friends (2001).
He starred in the commercially successful action films Thirumalai (2003) and Ghilli (2004), transitioning away from romance films. With subsequent successes of Thirupaachi (2005) and Pokkiri (2007), he established himself as one of the leading and commercially successful actors in Tamil cinema. Following a period of moderate success, Vijay acted in several critically and commercially successful films starting from the early 2010s including Thuppakki (2012), Kaththi (2014), Mersal (2017), Sarkar (2018), Master (2021), Beast (2022), Leo (2023), and The Greatest of All Time (2024).
In February 2024, Vijay announced his retirement from films and his entry into politics with the launch of his political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. His final film Jana Nayagan is yet to release. In the 2026 Assembly election, his party emerged as the single largest in the assembly, though it was not able to reach the majority mark.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:42 UTC on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Vijay (actor) on Wikipedia.
This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.
Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.
Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.
Until next time, I'm long-form Ruth.
No transcript available for this episode.
