Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has appeared in 170 films, including films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Malayalam. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful and popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016, India's third- and second-highest civilian honours, respectively, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019, the highest Indian award in the field of cinema, and the IFFI Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to world cinema.
Following his debut in K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, Rajinikanth's acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films. His major positive role as a scorned lover in S. P. Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977), together with his roles in 1978's Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan, earned him critical acclaim; the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor. By the end of the decade, he had worked in all South Indian film industries and established a career in Tamil cinema. He then played dual roles in the action thriller Billa (1980), a remake of the Hindi film Don (1978). It was his biggest commercial success to that point, earning him stardom and giving him an action hero image. He starred in a triple role in Moondru Mugam (1982), which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony. The following year, he made his Hindi film debut with T. Rama Rao's top-grossing Andhaa Kaanoon (1983). Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984) won him that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor. In the latter half of the 1980s, he starred in several successful films in Tamil and Hindi, including Geraftaar (1985), Padikkadavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988), Mappillai (1989) and ChaalBaaz (1989).
In 1991, Mani Ratnam's Tamil crime film Thalapathi earned Rajinikanth major critical acclaim for his performance. He collaborated with Suresh Krissna for many films including Annaamalai (1992) and Baashha (1995); the latter was the biggest commercial success in his career yet as well as the highest-grossing film in Tamil for many years. His other successes include P. Vasu's Mannan (1992), Uzhaippali (1993) and K. S. Ravikumar's Muthu (1995) and Padayappa (1999); the latter went on to become his and Tamil cinema's highest-grossing movie, exceeding Baashha.
After a hiatus of a few years, Rajinikanth returned to acting with the comedy horror film Chandramukhi (2005); it went on to become the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time. His next film, S. Shankar's Sivaji (2007), was the third Indian film and the first-ever Tamil film to enter the 100 Crore Club. He then played dual roles as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018), both of which were India's most expensive productions at the time of their release. His action films 2.0 (2018), Jailer (2023), Coolie (2025), and Jailer 2 (2026) became major commercial successes in Tamil cinema, making him the only actor in the industry with four films surpassing the ₹500 crore mark. His latest movie, Jailer 2 (2026), shattered box office records by crossing 700 crores worldwide, topping 2.0 (2018) to become the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time. This also marks his second film to cross the 700-crore mark.
Known for his unique mannerisms and one-liners in films, he has a huge fan base and a cult following. He has won numerous film awards, including the National Film Award, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award, a Filmfare Award and two Maharashtra State Film Awards. Rajinikanth was named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek. He was also named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010.
Rajinikanth was born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad on 12 December 1950 in a Marathi family in Bangalore, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka). His mother was a homemaker, and his father, Ramoji Rao Gaekwad, was a police constable. His ancestors hailed from Mavadi Kadepathar, Pune district, Maharashtra. He is the youngest of four children in a family consisting of two elder brothers (Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao) and a sister (Aswath Balubhai). After his father's retirement from work in 1956, the family moved to the suburb of Hanumantha Nagar in Bangalore and built a house there. He lost his mother at the age of nine.
Rajinikanth had his primary education at the Gavipuram Government Kannada Model Primary School in Bangalore. As a child, he was "studious and mischievous" with a great interest in cricket, football and basketball. During this time, his brother enrolled him at the Ramakrishna Math, a Hindu monastery set up by the Ramakrishna Mission. In the math, he was taught the Vedas, tradition and history, which eventually instilled a sense of spirituality in him. In addition to spiritual lessons, he also began acting in plays at the math. His aspiration towards theatre grew at the math, and he was once given an opportunity to enact the role of Ekalavya's friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. His performance in the play received praise from the Kannada poet D. R. Bendre. After sixth grade, Rajinikanth was enrolled at the Acharya Pathasala Public School and studied there until he completed his pre-university course. During his schooling at the Acharya Pathasala, he spent a lot of time acting in plays.
Upon completion of his school education, Rajinikanth held several jobs, including that of a coolie before getting a job in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor. He continued to take part in plays after the Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in one of his mythological plays. He decided to take up an acting course in the newly formed Madras Film Institute after coming across an advertisement. Although his family was not fully supportive of his decision to join the institute, his friend and co-worker, Raj Bahadur, motivated him to join the institute and financially supported him during this phase. During his stay at the institute, he was noticed by the Tamil film director K. Balachander. Balachander provided Rajinikanth with his stage name to avoid confusion with fellow actor Sivaji Ganesan, having taken it from a character's name in his earlier film Gauravam. Balachander advised him to learn to speak Tamil, a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed. Although he can read the language, he cannot write in it.
Rajinikanth began his film career with the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander. He was cast in a small role as the ex-husband of the female lead played by Srividya. The film explored relationships between people with wide age differences and was deemed controversial upon release. However, it received critical acclaim and won three National Film Awards including the Award for the Best Tamil Feature at the 23rd National Film Awards in 1976. A review from The Hindu noted that "Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive." His next release was Puttanna Kanagal's Kannada anthology film Katha Sangama (1976). Rajinikanth appeared in the last segment of the film; he played the role of a village ruffian who rapes a blind woman in the absence of her husband. Balachander cast him in a pivotal role in Anthuleni Katha (1976), the Telugu remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). In Moondru Mudichu—the first Tamil film to feature him in a prominent role—he played a character that "blithely row[s] away" when his friend drowns accidentally in the lake only to fulfill his desire to marry the former's girlfriend. His style of flipping the cigarette in the film made him popular among the audience. In his final release of the year, Baalu Jenu, he was cast as the main antagonist who troubles the female lead. He played similar roles in Balachander's Avargal (1977), and Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile (1977). The same year, he made his first-ever appearance as a lead actor in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi (1977), which earned him his only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. S. P. Muthuraman experimented with casting Rajinikanth in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977). The success of the film brought the duo together for 24 more films until the 1990s. Rajinikanth played supporting and "villainous" roles in most of the films released during the year. In Gaayathri, he was cast as a pornographer who secretly films his relationship with his wife without her knowledge and in Galate Samsara, he played the role of a married man who develops an affair with a cabaret dancer. Fifteen of his films were released during the year.