Raghava Lawrence

09 Jan, 1976 | Poonamalle, Tamil Nadu

Actor/Director/Music Director

Biography

Raghava Lawrence is an Indian dance choreographer, film actor, director, composer, and philanthropist who predominantly works in Tamil and Telugu films. He started exploring acting roles after making his entrance in 1993 as a dance choreographer. He made his acting debut in a Telugu movie in 1998, and over the course of his career, he worked with several well-known Tamil actors and directors. With the Telugu film Style and then Muni, he made his acting debut. Lawrence has won four Filmfare Awards and three Nandi Awards for best choreography. Personal Life Raghava Lawrence was born on January 9, 1976, in Chennai. When he was a young child, he suffered from a brain tumour. After her mother Kanmani prayed to Raghavendra Swami, he changed his name to "Raghava." He married Latha Lawrence when he was not as well known in the industry, and the couple had a daughter they named Raghavi. He was a car washer for Super Subbarayan, a fight master. When Rajinikanth noticed him dancing, he helped him join the Dancers Association. Career In 1989, T. Rajendran's Tamil film Samsara Sangeetham featured Lawrence for the first time in a song. After that, he made appearances as a background dancer in a number of films, including Donga Police, Gentleman, Rakshana, and others. He demonstrated a peculiar dancing style that Chiranjeevi appreciated and asked him to create a song for his Hitler movie. He then achieved success as a choreographer, from which he received an offer for a character role in the 1999 film Speed Dancer. Later, he made appearances in the movies Parthen Rasithen, Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven, and Parthale Paravasam. In 2002, Lawrence played the first lead in the Tamil film Arpudham. The following year, in 2002, he appeared in the Telugu film "Style," which launched his career as an actor. Moreover, he had a cameo role alongside Vijay in the Tamil film Thirumalai. After making a cameo in the movie Thendral, he went on to direct his debut Telugu movie, Mass, in 2004, which starred Nagarjuna and Jyothika. The film received a lot of praise from influential people in the film business and was commercially successful. Career Breakthrough The horror-thriller movie Muni (2007) marked Raghava's breakthrough success. He keeps acting in movies of many genres, including Pandi, Rajadhi Raja, and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam. He gains notoriety as an actor in the Kollywood business with each of the films. He stars in the 2011 Muni series in Kanchana, which was critically acclaimed and amassed a sizable box office haul. And both the critics and the public praised his screen presence. He continued performing regularly after that and made respectable movies like Kanchana 2, Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva, Shivalinga, and Kanchana 3. Lawrence's Sociology Lawrence established a charity trust in his honour after the death of former Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2015. He participated in numerous social outreach projects and helped with numerous children's heart operations. Although it was banned in 2017, he was one of the supporters of the bull-riding sport known as jallikattu. In January 2017, he supported protesters in Tamil Nadu by giving them food, medicine, and other necessities while promising to stick by them until the protests had ended. He requested a meeting with Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, in order to offer Rs 1 crore as relief money for the victims of the Kerala floods.