Kumaresan Duraisamy (born 2 December 1963), known professionally by his stage name Napoleon, is an Indian actor, politician and entrepreneur. He was the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

's cabinet. He has acted in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and English movies.

Early life

He graduated from St. Joseph's College, Trichy.

Career

Politics

After college, he moved to Trichy and became enthused by the ideologies of the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

(DMK) party. He joined the party in which his uncle K. N. Nehru was already a member and at that time the Public Welfare Minister of the state government. Election campaigning 2009

Napoleon contested the State Assembly elections of 2001, winning the Villivakkam constituency contest and thereby becoming a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

of Tamil Nadu. He lost his membership in the 2006 elections, when he contested from the Mylapore constituency and was defeated by actor

S. Ve. Shekhar Sattanathapuram Venkataraman Shekher (born 26 December 1950) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, politician and a playwright of Tamil-language plays. In 2006, he was elected as an MLA for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIA ...

. Subsequently, Napoleon nurtured the Perambalur constituency in the hope of becoming a member of parliament for the DMK and succeeded in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. He was then appointed Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in Union government. Seen as a loyalist of Azhagiri, he was sidelined by DMK after the expulsion of the latter from the party in 2014. He joined the BJP in the presence of party President

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

on 21 December 2014. He was made the party's state vice-president on 26 November 2015.

Films

When aged 27, he watched the film ''Udhayam'', the dubbed version of the Telugu film '' Siva'', and was inspired to take up acting. He entered the Tamil film industry in 1991 with

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

's rural film ''

Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu ''Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu'' () is a 1991 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language film directed by Bharathiraja. This film marked the debut for supporting artist. Napoleon (actor), Napoleon as well as leading actress, Sukanya (actress), Sukanya. ...

'', playing the antagonist role. After the stupendous success of ''

Ejamaan ''Yajaman'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by R. V. Udayakumar. It stars Rajinikanth and Meena,. The film was produced by M. Saravanan, M. S. Guhan and M. Subrahmaniam of AVM Productions. It was released ...

'' (1993), Napoleon went on to play the villain to great effect in Malayalam and Telugu cinema too. He is praised for good best performance and acting in his Malayalam movie called ''

Devasuram ''Devaasuram'' () is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by I. V. Sasi and written by Ranjith. It stars Mohanlal, Revathi, and Napoleon, with Innocent, V. K. Sreeraman, Maniyanpilla Raju, and Augustine in supporting rol ...

'' (1993). Napoleon turned hero on-screen too with ''

Kizhakku Cheemayile ''Kizhakku Cheemayile'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Bharathiraja. It stars Vijayakumar, Raadhika and Napoleon, while Vignesh, Pandiyan, and Vadivelu play supporting roles. The film involves a touching sentimenta ...

'' (1993) in which he played an anti-hero. After that film,

Pratap Pothen Pratap Pothen (13 August 1952 – 15 July 2022) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who acted in about 100 films and directed 12 films. He appeared in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu as well as Hindi films. He also worked as a scriptwriter and produ ...

gave ''

Seevalaperi Pandi ''Seevalaperi Pandi'' is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language biographical crime action film directed by Pratap Pothen and written by K. Rajeshwar. It is based on the life of the Indian criminal of the same name. The film was released on 24 June 1994, a ...

'' (1994). That film turned out to be a mega hit. He was awarded

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Recipients Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. * The year mentioned refers to the year in which the films released. This is the list of Winners of Jury's Special Award See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of Indi ...

for his performance in '' Ettupatti Rasa'' (1997). In 1998, he was awarded the

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of ...

and MGR Award. From 2000 to 2006, he was appointed as the vice-president of the South Indian Film Artistes Association. Later after years into film industry, he also got the chance to work in stone blockbuster movies such as ''

Pokkiri ''Pokkiri'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Prabhu Deva. It is the Tamil remake of the 2006 Telugu film ''Pokiri'' starring Mahesh Babu. The film stars Vijay and Asin with Prakash Raj, Nassar, Mukesh Tiwari, Vadivelu ...

'' (2007) and ''

Dasavathaaram ''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It stars Kamal Haasan, who also wrote the script, in ten distinct roles. Asin appears in two roles and Mallika Sherawat plays a subs ...

'' (2008). Though he settled in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, at the insistence of the industry stalwarts, he made his acting comeback with ''

Kidaari ''Kidaari'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action-mystery film written and directed by Prasath Murugesan, starring Sasikumar and Nikhila Vimal in the lead roles. The film, which is also produced by Sasikumar, features Napoleon, Vela Ramamo ...

'' (2016). He then went on to portray

Gautham Karthik Gautham Karthik (born 12 September 1989) is an Indian actor who works in Tamil-language films. He made his acting debut in Mani Ratnam's '' Kadal'' (2013). Early life and background Gautham Karthik was born to actor Karthik and his first wife ...

's father in ''

Muthuramalingam ''Muthuramalingam'' is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Rajadurai. The film stars Gautham Karthik and Priya Anand, while Napoleon plays a pivotal supporting role. Soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, so ...

'' (2017) replacing Karthik. After making his Hollywood debut in the supernatural thriller, '' Devil's Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge'' (2019), he is seen in another American independent film titled ''

Christmas Coupon ''Christmas Coupon'' is a 2019 American Romantic film, romantic holiday film written and directed by Daniel Knudsen. Produced by Crystal Creek Media, the film's plot follows a figure skater who falls in love with a hockey player. Plot The movie ...

'' (2019). Napoleon also proudly announced that he is the only Tamil actor, who had acted in a Hollywood film, which was completely shot in the US.

Entrepreneurship

Nepoleon Duraisamy forayed into IT Entrepreneurship and kick started "Jeevan Technologies" IT operations in Chennai, India in the year 2000. Jeevan is a trusted technology transformation partner of enterprises across the globe under his able mentorship.

Social entrepreneurship

In 2010, Napoleon established Myopathy Unit of Jeevan Foundation, the Institute for Muscular Dystrophy & Research Center. It is a non-profit organization registered under the Tamil Nadu Trust Act.

Achievements and awards

for '' Ettupatti Rasa'' (1997) *

and MGR Award (1998) * Vice-president of the

South Indian Film Artistes' Association The Nadigar Sangam ( en, Actors' association), officially known as the South Indian Artistes' Association (SIAA), is a union for film, television, and stage actors in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, based in Chennai. Formed in 1952, the group ...

(2000–2006) * Murasoli Trust "Kalaignar" Award, which is given to people who contribute to Tamil language, literature and culture (2007).

Filmography

;As actor ;As singer

References

External links

*
Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website

Actor Napoleon's website

Jeevan Technologies

Jeevan Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Napoleon 1963 births Living people 21st-century Indian male actors Tamil male actors Indian actor-politicians India MPs 2009–2014 Male actors in Malayalam cinema Male actors from Tiruchirappalli Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians St Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli alumni Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Male actors in Tamil cinema Indian male film actors Male actors in Telugu cinema 20th-century Indian male actors People from Perambalur district