Velmurugan Thangasany Manohar is better known to audiences as Charlie, a name given to him by K.Balachander, the director who introduced him to films through the 1982 film, Poikaal Kuthirai. Balachander told him that he would have a remarkable career like Charlie Chaplin and, out of respect to K. Balachander, he retains the name to date.
While studying for his first degree in Chemistry, Charlie used to entertain his friends with mimicry of artists like Sivaji Ganesan, Muthuraman and Nagesh. He began his career in the Arts as a staff actor in the Song and Drama Division of the Tamil Nadu Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Although his earlier roles focused on comedy, he soon proved himself to be an outstanding character actor and has now completed more than 800 films in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
Charlie holds two Masters Degrees – a Master of Arts from Madurai Kamaraj University, and a Master of Philiosophy through Karaikudi Alagappa University. In 2019, he successfully completed his Ph,D through the university of Thanjavur in a thesis titled Humour in Tamil Cinema.
He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Comedian as well a sthe prestigious Kalaimamani Award bestowed on him in 2004. Charlie’s latest film is the Jiiva-Arjun starrer Aghathiyaa which will soon be releasing on OTT.
Charlie turns 65 today.
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