Suriya was born as Saravanan on 23 July 1975 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, to actor Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. He attended Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School where most of the actors’ children studied and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai and completed B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai. Suriya has two younger siblings, a brother Karthi and a sister Brindha with who he used to have frequent quarrels in the childhood.
Suriya began his career at a garment exports factory where he worked for eight months without revealing himself as Sivakumar's son, but his boss after knowing the truth encouraged him to be an actor. Surya was never confident in his glamour or looks and never wanted to become a hero. He even rejected an offer in Aasai (1995), due to lack of interest in an acting career. His brother Karthi then left for the US and his father began acting in TV serials and Suriya wanted to support his family financially. He debuted in Vasanth's 1997 film Nerrukku Ner, starring Vijay, produced by Mani Ratnam at the age of 22. It was ManiRatnam who changed his screen name from Saravanan to Suriya.
This movie was followed by a series of unsuccessful films like the romantic film Kaadhale Nimmadhi (1998), Sandhippoma (1998). He acted with Vijayakanth in Periyanna (1999), He acted with actress Jyothika in Poovellam Kettuppar (1999) and Uyirile Kalanthathu (2000) when they fell in love. In 2001, Friends, co-starring Vijay, became a commercial success. All these roles came to him only if the main star cast dates could not be adjusted as he carried his father's image. Suriya lacked confidence, memory power, fighting or dancing skills in his early career but actor Raghuvaran, advised him to create his own identity. Nandha (2001), directed by Bala was his first break and he received Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.
In 2003, he starred in Gautham Vasudev Menon's Kaakha Kaakha, which opened to positive critic reviews marking the birst blockbuster for Suriya. He then portrayed a happy-go-lucky village man in Bala's Pithamagan, along with Vikram, and the film did well commercially. In 2004, he played dual roles in Perazhagan, then a role of a student leader in Mani Ratnam's political drama Ayutha Ezhuthu which was dubbed and released in Telugu as "Yuva '' opening his market in Telugu too.
Suriya then appeared in a psychological thriller, Ghajini directed by A. R. Murugadoss became a Blockbuster and the third highest-grossing film of that year in Tamil and its dubbed version was a commercial hit even in Telugu. He did films like Aaru, Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, Vel (2007), which got mixed reviews. Suriya then played the roles of father and son in Vaaranam Aayiram (2008). He lost weight and prepared a six pack for the film without steroids, which was released as Surya S/o Krishnan in Telugu becoming a commercially hit at the box office. He then did K. V. Anand's action-thriller Ayan (2009), K. S. Ravikumar's action entertainer Aadhavan and Suriya emerged as a profitable leading actor in Tamil films.
In 2010, he started the Singam series, while he appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's political drama Rakta Charitra (2010), science fiction action thriller 7aum Arivu (2011), Maattrraan (2012) in which he played the role of conjoined twins, Anjaan (2014), Massu Engira Masilamani (Masss) (2015), 24(2016). By 2013, he also started producing films under " 2D Entertainment", like 36 Vayadhinile starring his wife Jyothika, Pasanga 2 (2015), Kadaikutty Singam(2018). S3 from the Singam franchise, emerged as ₹1 billion grosser in 2017.
Soorarai Pottru in 2020 was based on the life of Air Deccan founder Captain G. R. Gopinath, directed by Sudha Kongara, was released directly on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video with positive reviews becoming the most-watched regional language film on Amazon Prime in India.
He recently appeared in a cameo role as 'Rolex' in Vikram starring Kamal Haasan. Suriya was the brand ambassador of Tanker Foundation for AIDS awareness.In 2006, Suriya began the Agaram Foundation, which helps children who drop out of school early and funds various philanthropic activities in Tamil Nadu. In 2012, Suriya hosted Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi, on Star Vijay. His younger brother Karthi is also a hero. Based on the earnings of Indian celebrities, Suriya has been included in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list six times. Suriya is a recipient of two National Film Awards, 6 Filmfare Awards South, 3 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 2 SIIMA awards, two Edison Awards and five Vijay Awards.
