Napoleon (actor)


Kumaresan Duraisamy, known by his stage name Napoleon, is an Indian-American film actor, politician and entrepreneur. He was the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment under the prime ministership of Manmohan Singh. He has acted in nearly 150 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English.

Early life

Kumaresan Duraisamy, better known as Napoleon, was born on 2 December 1963—the fifth of six children. His family was occupied in agriculture. He graduated from St. Joseph's College, Trichy. His Father is Duraisamy and mother is Saraswathi Ammal.

Career

Politics

After college, he moved to Trichy and became enthused by the ideologies of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He joined the party in which his uncle K. N. Nehru was already a member and at that time the Public Welfare Minister of the state government.
Napoleon contested the State Assembly elections of 2001, winning the Villivakkam constituency contest and thereby becoming a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He lost his membership in the 2006 elections, when he contested from the Mylapore constituency and was defeated by actor S. Ve. Shekhar. Subsequently, Napoleon nurtured the Perambalur constituency in the hope of becoming a member of parliament for the DMK and succeeded in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. He was then appointed Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in Union government. Seen as a loyalist of Azhagiri, he was sidelined by DMK after the expulsion of the latter from the party in 2014. He joined the BJP in the presence of party President Amit Shah on 21 December 2014. He was made the party's state Vice-President on 26 November 2015.

Films

When aged 27, he watched the film Udhayam, the dubbed version of the Telugu film Siva, and was inspired to take up acting. He entered the Tamil film industry in 1991 with P. Bharathiraja's rural film Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu, playing the antagonist role. Other roles followed, including in Ejamaan, Seevalaperi Pandi, Devasuram, Ravanaprabhu, Vattaram, Hello Brother, Pokkiri and Dasavathaaram. His role as Mundakkal Shekharan in the blockbuster action film Devasuram is widely regarded as his best performance to-date. He reprised the role in the Ravanaprabhu, a sequel to Devasuram.
Though settled in Nashville, at the insistence of makers, he made his acting comeback with Kidaari and then went on to portray Gautham Karthik's father in Muthuramalingam replacing Karthik.
Among the forthcoming Tamil, Malayalam and Hollywood films in which he features are AY-NA and , which marks his Hollywood debut.

Entrepreneurship

In 2000 Napoleon founded Jeevan Technologies in Chennai, and then expanded into the USA and New Zealand. In 2008, the Jeevan IT Academy was started with the mission of training graduates to enter the corporate world with a thorough knowledge of industry standards.

Social entrepreneurship

In 2010 Napoleon established Myopathy Unit of Jeevan Foundation, the Institute for Muscular Dystrophy & Research Center. It is a non-profit organization registered under the Tamil Nadu Trust Act.

Achievements and awards

;As actor
YearFilmRoleLanguageNotes
1991Pudhu Nellu Pudhu NaathuShankaralingamTamil
1991MGR NagarilJohn PeterTamil
1992Chinna ThayeeChamundiTamil
1992BharathanC.I.D. JohnsonTamil
1992Nadodi ThendralSwamikannuTamil
1992Oor MariyadhaiVeerapandiTamil
1992Idhu Namma BhoomiMirasudarTamil
1992Mudhal SeethanamTamil
1992ThalaivasalChandranTamil
1992PangaliTamil
1992AbhiramiMr. Dhilip KumarTamilGuest appearance
1993Captain MagalRobert RoyappaTamil
1993YejamanVallavarayanTamil
1993DevasuramMundakal ShekaranMalayalam
1993Rajadhi Raja Raja Kulothunga Raja Marthanda Raja Gambeera Kathavaraya Krishna KamarajanGuru SubramaniamTamil
1993Dharma SeelanOmer SheriffTamil
1993Kunthi PuthruduSambasivuduTelugu
1993MaravanShankarapandiyanTamil
1993Minmini PoochigalVictorTamil
1993MunarivippuRanjithTamil
1993Nallathe NadakkumVikramanTamil
1993PudhupiraviTamil
1993Enga MuthalaliJayaramanTamil
1993Kizhakku CheemayileShivanadiTamil
1994GandheevamVincentMalayalam
1994Hello BrotherMithraTelugu
1994MaindhanVelayudam PillaiTamil
1994Mani RathnamRathnamTamil
1994Pudhupatti PonnuthayiTamil
1994Seevalaperi PandiPandiTamilDebut as Hero
1994ThamaraiThamaraiTamil
1994Thozhar PandianThaamaraiselvanTamil
1994Vanaja GirijaAnandTamil
1995Aakaya PookkalSuriyaTamil
1995AsuranMatthaiyaTamil
1995Chinna ManiDuraisamy ThevarTamil
1995En Pondatti NallavaRajappaTamil
1995MamanithanNaguTamil
1995Muthu KaalaiSakthivelTamil
1995RajamuthiraiMarkandeyanTamil
1995ThamizhachiRasayyaTamil
1996ThayagamPilotTamil
1996MusthaffaaMusthaffaaTamil
1996Puthiya ParasakthiRajaduraiTamil
1996RajaliRajaliTamil
1997Ettupatti RasaSingarajTamilTamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize,
Also singer for song "Ettupatti Rasa"
1998Bhagavath SinghBhagavath SinghTamil
1998The Government DevaTamil, Telugu, Kannada
1998Kizhakkum MerkkumSuryamurthyTamil
1999Billa RangaRangaKannada
1999Ethirum PudhirumArasappanTamil
1999MayaPratap / SuriyaTamil, Telugu, Kannada
1999PonvizhaBharathiTamil
1999Rowdy Brothers Kannada
1999SivanMuruganTamil
1999SuyamvaramKrishnaTamil
2000Karisakattu PooveKottai SamiTamil
2000The GangKevinMalayalam
2000Manu NeethiMuthazhaguTamil
2000Rayalaseema Ramanna Chowdary Jadadhari SwamijiTelugu
2000The Warrant Ravi RamakrishnanMalayalamDubbed into Tamil as The Warrant
2001MegasandesamFr. RossorriyaMalayalamDubbed into Tamil as Rosi
2001KalakalappuVeluthambiTamil
2001Mitta MiraasuSinga PerumalTamil
2001Veettoda MappillaiManikkamTamil
2001Ravana PrabhuMundakkal SekharanMalayalam
2002Kanal KireedamAlbinMalayalamDubbed into Tamil as Mary Albert
2002Thenkasi PattanamDassTamil
2004VirumaandiNallama NayakkarTamil
2004Adi ThadiSuryaTamil
2004RemoteDeenadayaluTamil
2005AyyaMadasamyTamil
2005VeerannaMariappan, VeerannaTamilAlso singer for song "Veeranna"
2006VattaramGurupadamTamil
2007PokkiriCommissioner Mohammed Mohideen Khan IPSTamil
2008Aayutham SeivomACP ElumalaiTamil
2008DasavathaaramKulothunga Chola IITamil
2008KrishnarjunaNallama NayakkarTelugu
2008SandaiKamarajTamil
2009Azhagar MalaiPandithuraiTamil
2009Oy!Dr. Harish Chandra PrasadTelugu
2009SaleemSingamanaiduTelugu
2011Ponnar ShankarThalaiyoor KaaliTamil
2016KidaariKottur DuraiTamil
2017MuthuramalingamMookiah ThevarTamil
2017Chennaiyil Oru Naal 2PrabakaranTamil
2018Seema RajaAriya RajaTamil
2018SharabhaKartavaryuduTelugu
2019Christmas CouponAgent KumarEnglishHollywood Movie
2020Dr. SudhirEnglishHollywood Movie
2020Ay-naAynaMalayalamFilming
2020Vallavanukkum VallavanMinisterTamilFilming
2020Trap CityNathanEnglishHollywood Movie
2020SultanSethupathiTamil

;As singer
YearFilmSongNotes
1995En Pondatti Nallava"Ponnu Kulla"
1999Ettupatti Rasa"Ettupatti Rasa"
2005Veeranna"Veeranna"