R. Madhavan Wiki, Height, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Madhavan Balaji Ranganathan, better known as R. Madhavan, is an Indian actor, writer, television host, and film producer.

Wiki/Biography

R. Madhavan was born on Monday, 1 June 1970 (age 52 years; as of 2022) in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand). His zodiac sign is Gemini. He did his schooling from Jamshedpur’s D.B.M.S. English School and went to Rajaram College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra to pursue B.Sc. in Electronics.

Initially, he wanted to join the Indian Army and during his college days, he actively participated in the extra-curricular military training.

At the age of 22, he was recognised as one of the leading NCC cadets in Maharashtra and won a trip to England with seven other cadets. There, he received training with the British Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. However, he could not join the programme as he had crossed the age cut-off by six months.

Madhavan, then, returned to India and started teaching public speaking and personality development skills at a workshop in Kolhapur. Subsequently, he enrolled himself in Mumbai’s Kishinchand Chellaram College to pursue a post-graduation in Public Speaking. While he was doing his post-graduation, Madhavan got a chance to represent India at the Young Businessmen Conference in Tokyo, Japan in 1992. Meanwhile, he created his portfolio for a modelling agency.

Physical Appearance

Height: 5’ 10½”

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Light Brown

Family, Caste & Wife

R. Madhavan belongs to a Tamil Brahmin Family. His father, Ranganathan Seshadri, worked as an executive in Tata Steel. His mother, Saroja, was a manager at the Bank of India. He has a sister, Devika, who is a software engineer.

Madhavan met Sarita Birje for the first time in 1991 at the public speaking workshop in Mumbai, where he used to teach communication to the students. The duo started dating each other after the completion of Sarita’s course and tied the knot in 1999. The couple has a son Vedaant.

His son, Vedaant, is a swimmer and has bagged medals at various national and international events. In July 2022, he broke the National Junior Record for the 1500 m freestyle at the Junior National Aquatics.

Never say never . 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️🤗🤗 National Junior Record for 1500m freestyle broken. ❤️❤️🙏🙏@VedaantMadhavan pic.twitter.com/Vx6R2PDfwc

— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) July 17, 2022

Career

Madhavan started his career in modelling in 1996. His first modelling assignment was a commercial for talcum powder for which he got paid Rs. 100. Next, he made small appearances in the TV serials like “Yule Love Stories,” “Banegi Apni Baat,” and “Ghar Jamai.”

Subsequently, he gained recognition in the Tamil Film Industry with Mani Ratnam’s “Alaipayuthey” (2000). He then did notable roles in “Minnale” and “Dumm Dumm Dumm.” In 2002, he achieved commercial success with his role in the action drama “Run.” He starred opposite Kamal Hassan in Anbe Sivam and earned two awards for Best Supporting Actor. In 2004, he played the antagonist in the Tamil Film “Aayutha Ezhuthu.” The film earned him his first Filmfare Award.

Madhavan made his Bollywood debut in 2001 with the film “Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein.” Next, he appeared in supporting roles in three highly successful films “Rang De Basanti” (2006), “Guru” (2007) and “3 Idiots” (2009).

In 2011, he played the lead role in the romantic-comedy “Tanu Weds Manu.” The film was a box office hit and his performance was critically acclaimed. Subsequently, he took a break from acting and returned to the big screen after a sabbatical of three years. In 2015, he portrayed the role of Manoj ‘Manu’ Sharma in “Tanu Weds Manu Returns.”

Madhavan has even worked as an anchor in the show “Tol Mol Ke Bol.”

Awards

• Filmfare Award for Best South Male Debut for the film Alaipayuthey

• Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Supporting Actor for the film Aaytha Ezhuthu

  R. Madhavan with a Filmfare Award

• Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor for the film Irudhi Suttru

• Filmfare Award for Critics’ Best Tamil Actor for Vikram Vedha

• SIIMA Critics Award for Best Actor (Tamil) for the film ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ at the Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE (September 2023)

Car & Bike Collection

Madhavan owns a BMW 7-Series car. He also owns Yamaha V-max and BMW K1600 GTL bikes.

Autograph

Favourite Things

• Food: Thayir Saadham, Pani Puri

• Films: Taare Zameen Par, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Baahubali

Facts

• His hobbies include playing golf and biking.

  R. Madhavan playing golf

• Madhavan is often spotted drinking alcohol and smoking cigarette on various occasions.

• He follows a vegetarian diet.

• His son, Vedaant, is a national level swimmer who has won 3 golds and one silver at the Junior Nationals Swim meet.

  R. Madhavan’s son won gold at the Junior Nationals Swim meet

• Madhavan has climbed Mount Cook in New Zealand.

  Mount Cook in New Zealand

• In 1988, he bagged a scholarship from Rajaram College to represent India in Stettler, Alberta, Canada as a cultural ambassador.

• Although he made his Bollywood debut with the film “Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein” (2001), his first Bollywood film was “Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin” (1996), in which he played a small role as a singer.

• He endorses PETA and in July 2006, he received the title of ‘cutest male vegetarian’ by PETA’s online poll.

  Madhavan as cutest male vegetarian

• He is one of the popular actors who have worked in 7 different languages films.

• His wife, Sarita, has worked as a costume designer in a few of his films.

• He is one of the top 3 actors with the maximum number of entries in the list of top-rated 10 Indian films with Anbe Sivam and Vikram Vedha. The other two actors with the most films in that list are Aamir Khan and Kamal Haasan.

• In 2003, Madhavan was cast for the lead role in the film “Vivaah” by director Sanjay Dayma. Reportedly, Hrithik was also approached for the film to play the other lead but the film was never made.

• Madhavan was offered the role of Jimmy Shergill in the film “My Name Is Khan” but he couldn’t do the role as its shooting dates were clashing with his film ‘3 Idiots.’

• Madhavan was not the first choice for Shyam Benegal’s shelved film “Ganga.” The role was initially offered to Govinda.

• In 2016, Lepra India signed Madhavan as its goodwill ambassador to promote action against leprosy.

• In 2017, Madhavan delivered speeches as a part of the annual India Conference at Harvard University.

  R. Madhavan at Harvard University

• The actor also has some video game characters based on him. Madhavan’s MIG and Madhavan are the two lead characters of games launched by Paradox Studios Limited.

  Video game character Madhavan MIG

• Madhavan is an active philanthropist. He has lent his support for the Chennai-based charity, The Banyan and has also appeared in charity musicals. Once as a guest cook, Madhavan, cooked dosas and helped raise forty-five thousand rupees for charity in Chennai.

  R. Madhavan making dosas for charity

• In 2007, he played golf along with Amitabh Bachchan and Mani Ratnam for a celebrity charity event.

• He is fondly called Maddy by his fans.

• In 2019, his son, Vedaant, represented India at the Asian Age Games and won a silver medal.

  R Madhavan’s son at the Asian Age Games

• On 1 September 2023, Madhavan was nominated as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, and the chairman of its governing council.