Actor · Telugu cinema
Jayaram
Jayaram movies: 10 Telugu films on file, 2018–2026. Earliest on file: Bhagmati (2018). Latest release: Mirai (12 September 2025). Next: Vrushakarma (4 December 2026).
- Films on file
- 10 (10 as actor)
- Years on file
- 2018–2026
- Born
- 10 December 1965 · December birthdays (Wikidata)
- Selected films on file
- Game Changer, Radhe Shyam, Ala Vaikunthapurramloo
- Record
- Q3522919 on Wikidata
Jayaram (born Jayaram Subramaniam, 10 December 1964) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema, with further work in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Sanskrit films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist and occasional playback singer. He has acted in more than 200 films, and his honours include the Padma Shri (2011), two Kerala State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South and a SIIMA Award. In Telugu cinema he has been nominated twice for the SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role, for Bhaagamathie and Dhamaka.
Early life
Jayaram was born in Perumbavoor, Kerala, the second of three children of Subramaniyam and Thankam. He studied at Government Boys High School, Perumbavoor, and graduated from Sree Sankara College, Kalady, while learning the chenda from Pallassana Nandakumar. After working briefly as a medical representative, he joined the Kalabhavan mimicry troupe in Kochi and performed on stage. The Malayalam writer Malayattoor Ramakrishnan is his maternal uncle.
Padmarajan and early films
At 22 he was launched in films by the writer-director Padmarajan, who gave him the lead in Aparan (1988) and cast him again in Moonnam Pakkam (1988) and Innale (1989). Padmarajan remained his mentor until his death in January 1991. In these years Jayaram also worked regularly with director Kamal and with Sathyan Anthikkad, whose films with him included Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (1988) and Sandesham (1991).
Malayalam stardom
Rajasenan’s Meleparambil Aanveedu (1993), a commercial success, made him a star. Through the 1990s he led a string of family dramas and comedies, including CID Unnikrishnan B.A., B.Ed. (1994), Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava (1995), Thooval Kottaram (1996), Summer in Bethlehem (1998) and Friends (1999), the highest-grossing Malayalam film of its year. Thooval Kottaram won him a Kerala State Special Jury Award and his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
His critically praised roles include Karunakaran in Theerthadanam (2001) and Lonappan in Sesham (2002), and Manassinakkare (2003) brought a third Filmfare award. After a run of flops he returned to success with Veruthe Oru Bharya (2008), followed by hits such as Bhagyadevatha (2009) and Happy Husbands (2010).
Tamil and Telugu work
In Tamil he played Dr Kailash in the Kamal Haasan film Thenali (2000), which won him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize, and Ayyappan Nair in Panchathanthiram, which brought a Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actor. He has since played antagonists in films such as Saroja and Dhaam Dhoom, a role in Thuppakki (2012), and Azhwarkkadiyan Nambi in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) and II (2023). In Telugu his negative roles in Bhaagamathie and Dhamaka earned SIIMA nominations.
Recent work
In 2024 he returned to lead roles in Malayalam with Midhun Manuel Thomas’s Abraham Ozler, playing a veteran police officer hunting a serial killer. According to the source it collected ₹40.05 crore worldwide in its first 30 days, becoming the highest-grossing film of his career as a solo lead, and a sequel has been confirmed.
Personal life
Jayaram married the actress Parvathy, his co-star in several early films, on 7 September 1992. Their son, Kalidas Jayaram, is an actor who won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist, and they also have a daughter, Malavika. The family lives in Chennai. Jayaram regularly performs the chenda at temple festivals and has won several awards as a dairy farmer in Kerala.
Career on file
Jayaram appears in 10 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 2018 to 2026. The earliest of them is Bhagmati (2018), and the most recent release is Mirai (2025). One more film, Vrushakarma (2026), is dated for later. The most widely covered of these, counted by Wikipedia language editions, are Game Changer (2025), Radhe Shyam (2022) and Ala Vaikunthapurramloo (2020). Other recent releases on file are Guntur Kaaram (2024), Hi Nanna (2023) and Kushi (2023).
Murali Sharma is the most frequent co-star, sharing four films with Jayaram, followed by Jagapati Babu (3) and Pooja Hegde (2). Among directors, Trivikram Srinivas cast Jayaram most often, in two films. Hesham Abdul Wahab, S. Thaman and Thaman S each scored two of them, more than any other music director. Across these films the credits on file name 9 different directors, 8 music directors and 44 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 9 of them; they average 154 minutes, and the longest is Mirai at 169 minutes. Eight of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 2010s (1) and 2020s (9).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.
Upcoming movies (1)
All upcoming Telugu movies · Dates are those on record and can change.