Dhanush, whose real name is Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja, made his Hollywood debut on Friday in ‘The Gray Man’, a movie directed by the Russo Brothers. The 38-year-old worked alongside celebrities like Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.

Dhanush plays the character of Avik San, a “lone wolf” assassin. The Russo brothers visited India with Dhanush for the premiere of ‘The Gray Man’ and said, “There is so much talent in India, the fan base is so passionate.”

Who is Dhanush?

Dhanush, born in Madras in July 1983, predominantly works in Tamil movies. However, he is known to experiment and has taken up multiple Bollywood projects, and now Hollywood too. He made his debut in ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’, a movie directed by his father in 2002.

His Bollywood debut was in 2013 in ‘Raanjhanaa’, a film directed by Aanand L. Rai and starring Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor. ‘Atrangi Re’ and ‘Shamitabh’ are some of his other Bollywood projects. However, Dhanush’s first claim to fame came in 2011, when his song ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’ went viral on social media. The song has more than 333 million views on YouTube so far. It was also given the CNN Top Song Of 2011 Award.

Some of Dhanush’s most celebrated movies include: ‘Mayakkam Enna’, ‘Velaiilla Pattadhari’, ‘Anegan’, ‘Asuran’ and ‘Karnan’ among others.

Dhanush married Aishwarya In 2004 and became legendary Indian actor Rajnikanth‘s son-in-law. However, the two announced their divorce in January this year. Dhanush and Aishwarya had two children: Yatra and Linga.

After contributing to more than 40 films so far, Dhanush has received several accolades so far. These include 13 SIIMA Awards, nine Vijay Awards, seven Filmfare Awards South, five Vikatan Awards, five Edison Awards, four National Film Awards (two as actor and two as producer), and a Filmfare Award.