R. Madhavan, popularly called as Maddy, was born on June 1, 1970, in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India, into a Tamil Iyengar family. Born in a well-educated family, his father being a management executive in Tata Steel and his mother being a manager in the Bank of India, Madhavan had never imagined he would be part of Indian film industry's one of the famous personalities. It won't be wrong to say that Madhavan is one of those bunch of celebrities who are highly qualified. You would be surprised to know that in 1988, Madhavan gained a scholarship to represent India as a cultural ambassador from Rajaram College, Kolhapur and spent a year in Stettler, Alberta, Canada as part of an exchange programme with Rotary International. Later, after returning to Kolhapur he completed his education, graduating with a degree in electronics. (All photos/R Madhavan's Instagram account)

At 22, R Madhavan was awarded Best NCC Cadet Maharashtra and got a chance to go to England for it. Owing to this achievement, he received training with the Royal Army, Navy and the Air Force. He also won the Indian Championship for Public Speaking and subsequently represented India at the Young Businessmen Conference in Tokyo, Japan in 1992. All this happened before joining the industry!

R. Madhavan stepped into the showbiz world when he came to Mumbai. Someone asked him 'Why don't you give your photographs to an agency? You can make quick money as a model.' And the rest is history!

R. Madhavan, who started off with Television with hit shows such as Sea Hawks and Ghar Jamai, is proud of his achievements. 'They all give titles to actors in the South. They also wanted to give me a title which meant 'King of Smiles', but I said no. And they got offended. My biggest award is after 20 years, I am still playing the main lead, so that's great. It's an award that very few people can claim,' he said in an interview with mid-day.

Being part of the acting industry for over 20 years, R. Madhavan has grown as an actor, and there is one advice which holds a special place in his heart. He said, 'A big director once told me that there is no shot in the film which cannot make you or ruin you. I always remember that.'

While many south superstars have already stepped into the world of politics, R. Madhavan says he has no interest in foraying into the field. Talking about getting into politics, he said, 'I am not politically inclined and I do not want to be a politician. I am doing my service in acting and I am happy with it. If people are joining politics with the intention of serving for the betterment of the nation, it is good. When young people joined politics coming from a background of the common man, like the one happened in the US when Barack Obama became President, young people get a visionary. That is good for the nation.'

In a 22-year career, Madhavan has done very selective work, whether in the south Indian film industry or in Hindi cinema. What made him be so choosy about selecting projects? 'An actor is defined by his life experiences and how convincingly he is portraying his characters on-screen and getting acceptance for his performance. When it comes to the acceptance of my performance from the audience, even though the films did not do well at the box office for a film like 'Ramji Londonwala', my effort has always been appreciated. That made me confident about my choices. I understood the fact that slowly but steadily, I am growing,' Madhavan said.

'I have been working on my skills and that will continue. See, the world's biggest superstars earn the status of a superstar in their late 40s and 50s. If you ask me about me being choosy, I would say I am not. I just do not want to feel burnt out by the time I reach 50. See, I cannot dance, I do not have a well-built body, neither do I have an adorable look that a superstar has. But yes, I am earning respect with my substantial work,' said R. Madhavan, who calls himself 'less than a superstar like Shah Rukh Khan' yet considers himself 'moderately famous'. He has worked with some of the noted names like Mani Ratnam, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Nishikant Kamat, Rajkumar Hirani, Aanand L Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Hassan and Naseeruddin Shah among others.

On the personal front, R. Madhavan got married in 1999 to Sarita Birje. At one of his public speaking workshops in Maharashtra, the actor encountered his wife Sarita Birje for the first time in 1991. Sarita had attended his class on the recommendation of her cousins and even confessed that she had learned from Madhavan's classes to pass an interview to become an air hostess. They later began dating and married in 1999.

The couple was blessed with a boy in 2004. In 2018, their song Vedaant won a bronze medal for India in the 1500m freestyle at the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championship. 'Proud moment for Sarita (his wife) and I, as Vedaant wins his first medal for India in an international swim meet in Thailand today. Thank you for all your blessings,' wrote Madhavan on Instagram along with a photograph of his son holding the medal and certificate with the backdrop of a stadium.

R. Madhavan underwent shoulder surgery in February 2018 and since he was recuperating, he had to withdraw from Ranveer Singh's Simmba, in which he was reportedly going to play the villain.

In 2018, R. Madhavan made his debut in web series Breathe. When asked if he had any fears about audiences doubting his career in cinema, he said, 'You mean because I'm doing something on the smaller screen? In the West, the biggest of the stars do web series. Meryl Streep did Big Little Lies. I saw the potency of the digital platform long ago. I was waiting to do a web series. 'Breathe' gave me just the opportunity to make my debut on the web. Having said that, let me hasten to state that my movie career is not yet over. I took a three-year break to rejuvenate myself and I made a comeback with the films Irrudi Sutru and Vikram Vedha.'

Madhavan grabbed headlines when he posted this 'Shower Selfie' on his social media handle. This shower selfie of R. Madhavan got over millions of likes from fans and followers. But he feels his shower selfie is a bit of an embarrassment because he is not used to being called hot. 'The shower selfie was a little bit of an embarrassment for me also because I am not used to being called hot. I don't relate to that. So, after a while I was wondering why I put that shower selfie up because I don't look like that all the time,' Madhavan said.

R. Madhavan was asked how he feels to have a new generation of girls swooning over his pictures on social media at this age? He said he feels really flattered. 'It feels really flattering that girls swoon over you at this age. I just take that with a pinch of salt. I am very grateful to them for that and I adore them for thinking of me but I can't dwell on it,' he said.

We wish all the very best for your future endeavours, Maddy!

P.S.: Happy Birthday to you!