Vineeth

Vineeth was born to K. T. Radhakrishnan and P. K. Shanthakumari on 23 August 1969 at Thalassery in Kannur district of North Kerala. He has a sister, Kavitha Dinesh.[2] He studied at Good Shepherd International School, Ooty and St Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Thalassery.[3] He pursued bachelors in commerce from The New College in 1991.

Vineeth is the nephew of Ramachandran Nair, the husband of actress Padmini of the Travancore sisters. His aunt, Padmini and her sister, Ragini convinced his parents to send him to dancing school.[4] Vineeth is also a cousin of the film actress Shobana, Krishna and relative of Arun Kumar, actress Sukumari and Ambika Sukumaran.

He learned Bharathanatyam at the age of six. He caught the public eye by winning several prizes in the Bharatanatyam dance form while studying in school, including winning the first prize at the Kerala State Youth festival for four years in a row[1] and winning the top prize of "Kalaprathibha" in 1986.[5]

Vineeth entered films with the I. V. Sasi film Idanilangal in 1985. It was, however, with his second film Nakhakshathangal in 1986 that he caught the public eye. His dancing skills were prominently displayed in several films as well. He kept getting called for a number of movies, many acclaimed ones among them Pranamam (1986), Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal (1986), Oridathu (1987), and so on. He notably played the lead characters in Idanazhiyil Oru Kaalocha (1987), a story by poet Balachandran Chullikkadu and Oru Muthassi Katha (1988) directed by Priyadarshan. Aavarampoo (1992), the Tamil remake of Thakara changed everything for Vineeth directed by Bharathan. As soon as Aavarampoo ended, Hariharan called him for Sargam (1992), in which he played a musical genius. Suddenly Vineeth was doing multiple films in Malayalam and Tamil. Kabooliwala (1994) and Manathe Vellitheru (1994) became two turning points in his Malayalam career, one establishing him as a young romantic hero, the other proving he could handle negative shades really well. Though his films impressed both critics and front benchers, he did not become a super hero, a sought after actor.[6] He had appeared in maximum Malayalam films. But his career did not pick up as expected.[7]

His roles in successful Tamil films also include Gentleman (1993), Pudhiya Mugam (1993), Jaathi Malli (1993) and May Maadham (1994). Among other projects came Kadhal Desam (1996), where Vineeth and Abbas played college students in love with the same woman, played by Tabu. The movie, with its themes of friendship and romance and the music of A. R. Rahman, became very popular. He has acted in several well received films since then in all South Indian languages. In spite of his success in films, he still considers dance as his first love and is undergoing advanced training in Bharatanatyam and participates in several dance programmes all over the world as well as the Surya Dance Festival.[8] He has worked in several Telugu films such as Aaro Pranam (1997), Maa Annayya (2000), Ammayi Kosam (2001), Nee Premakai (2002) and Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo (2002). Vineeth, who disappeared from both Tamil and Malayalam cinema, made a comeback with Rajinikanth starrer Chandramukhi (2005).[9] He played the same role in the Hindi version of Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) as well.[10] He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography for Kambhoji in 2017. Vineeth's last film release was the G. V. Prakash Kumar starrer Sarvam Thaala Mayam (2019) in Tamil. It was a musical drama that was written and directed by Rajiv Menon.[11] Actor singer Krishnachandran dubbed for Vineeth in most of his early movies. Ironically, Vineeth won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Dubbing Artist in 2020 for giving voice to Vivek Oberoi's character in Lucifer, actor Prithviraj’s first as a director.[12] In Malayalam, he was seen in Kavya Prakash's debut film Vaanku (2021), based on a story by Unni R.[11] In Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea, he dubbed for the character played by Tamil star Arjun Sarja. Vineeth won the award for his dubbing.[13]

Vineeth married Priscilla Menon in 2004[14] and lives in Chennai . They have a daughter named Avanthi born in 2006.[15]

• 1986 - Kalaprathibha - Kerala School Kalolsavam
• 1992 - Best New Face award by Film Fan's Association in Tamil Nadu for Aavarampoo
• 1992 - Kerala Film Critics Association Awards Second Best Actor award for Daivathinte Vikrithikal and Sargam
• 1993 - Supporting Actor award by Film Fan's Association in Tamil Nadu for Jathi Malli and Pudhiya Mugam
• 2006 - Yuvakala Bharathi award - Bharath Kalachar
• 2009 - Kalaimamani Award from Government of Tamil Nadu
• 2013 - Asiavision Awards for Best Supporting Actor[16]
• 2013 - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Malayalam - Nominated for Bavuttiyude Namathil
• 2017 - Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography - Kambhoji for the song "Chenthar Nermukhi"
• 2020 - Kerala State Film Award for Best Dubbing Artist - Lucifer (dubbed for Vivek Oberoi), Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham (dubbed for Arjun Sarja)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vineeth.

• Actor Vineeth - Official Website
• Vineeth at IMDb
• Vineeth at MSI
• Actor and dancer Vineeth goes to Bollywood http://content.msn.co.in/Entertainment/SouthCinema/SCGalatta.com_100807_0858.htm
• Interview with Vineeth: varnachitram » Blog Archive » Interview with Vineeth