Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian film actor, director, producer, and playback singer, known for his works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. He has also worked in the Tamil, Bollywood and Telugu language films. He has appeared in more than 100 films in a variety of roles, and has received several awards, including the National Film Awards, Kerala State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South.Director Ranjith cast Prithviraj in the 2002 romantic-drama Nandanam, his acting debut was a commercial success. He established himself as a successful leading actor in the following years. In 2006, he starred in the coming-of-age romance film Classmates, which became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. In the same year, he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his performances in Vaasthavam, becoming the youngest recipient of the award at the age of 24. The 2009 action film Puthiya Mukham marked his debut as a playback singer. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor again in 2012 for the medical drama Ayalum Njanum Thammil and the biographical film Celluloid.In 2010, he began co-producing films for the production house August Cinema, starting with the historical film Urumi which he also starred in. In 2011, he co-produced and starred in the social drama Indian Rupee, for which he received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam and Kerala State Film Award for Best Film. In 2014, he won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Villain for his performance in Kaaviya Thalaivan. His 2015 period film Ennu Ninte Moideen and 2017 horror thriller Ezra are both amongst the top ten highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time. He ended his partnership with August Cinema in 2017 and launched an independent production house, Prithviraj Productions, debuting with the 2019 science fiction film 9. Prithviraj made his directorial debut in 2019 with Lucifer which became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever.