Ganesan was born Ganesamoorthy on 1 October 1928, the fourth son of Chinnaiya Manrayar and Rajamani Ammal in Villupuram, India. 9.1 Civilian honours: national and international.2.3 Puranic and historical roles: 1965–1969.Upon his death, The Los Angeles Times described him as 'the Marlon Brando of south India's film industry'. Ganesan is remembered as an iconic figure of Tamil cinema. He was also the first Indian actor to be made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1997, Ganesan was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for films in India. In addition, he received four Filmfare Awards South and a National Film Award (Special Jury). Many leading South Indian film actors have stated that their acting was influenced by Ganesan. Ganesan was the first Indian film actor to win a 'Best Actor' award in an International film festival, the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Cairo, Egypt in 1960. In a career that spanned close to five decades, he had acted 288 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which gave him also the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam ( transl. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor, and producer.

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