Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam films. At the peak of his career in the late 1990s, Prashanth was one of the popular actors in South India. He has won a Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. The son of actor-director Thiagarajan, Prashanth began his career at 17 by appearing in Vaigasi Poranthachu (1990) and went on to feature in other films including Balu Mahendra's Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992), R. K. Selvamani's Chembaruthi (1992), K. Rushendra Reddy's Tholi Muddhu (1993), and Mani Ratnam's action-comedy Thiruda Thiruda (1993). Prashanth rose to stardom with Shankar's romantic comedy Jeans (1998) in which he played a dual role alongside Aishwarya Rai. The success of this film saw him garner opportunities to work in bigger film projects and in the late 1990s, he featured in a series of breakthrough films such as Kannedhirey Thondrinal (1998), Kaadhal Kavithai (1998), Jodi (1999), Parthen Rasithen (2000) and Piriyadha Varam Vendum (2001). Early life Prashanth was born on 6 April 1973 in Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He is the son of Thiagarajan (actor and director) in Tamil films while his maternal grandfather Peketi Sivaram was an actor and an acclaimed director of Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. His maternal cousin is fellow film actor Vikram. His mother tongue is Tamil. He studied Computer Graphics and Multimedia and went to Trinity College of Music in London before embarking on an acting career. He completed his 12th grade and was enlisted in two medical colleges. His first intention was to be a doctor, but finally he decided to be an actor, like his father T. Thiagarajan, also producer and film director. Prashanth owns a multi-storeyed jewelry mart in Panagal Park. He is also a trained pianist. Career Early roles (1990–1997) Prashanth started off as a leading romantic hero in the 1990 film Vaigasi Poranthachu. He then appeared in the Malayalam film Perumthachan written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair where he played the son of the title character. He also acted in Tholi Muddhu alongside Divya Bharti which was the remake of the Bollywood film Dil. Prashanth focused on Tamil and acted in Thiruda Thiruda (1993) directed by Mani Ratnam and music by A. R.