Nivin Pauly is an Indian actor and producer. Known for his work in Malayalam cinema, he is the recipient of several awards including three Filmfare South awards and a Kerala State Film Award. Pauly applied for the audition and was selected to play one of the main roles in Vineeth Sreenivasan's directorial debutMalarvaadi Arts Club in 2009 which was produced by actor Dileep. After playing several small roles, Pauly got his breakthrough with his lead role in the romantic film Thattathin Marayathu, which was also directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. He became known for playing "boy next door" archetype following roles in the bilingual black-comedy thriller Neram, the sports-drama 1983, the romantic-comedy Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, the romantic-drama Bangalore Days, the comedy road-thriller Oru Vadakkan Selfie, and the coming-of-age romantic dramaPremam. Bangalore Days and Premam became two among the list of top ten highest-grossing Malayalam films. Pauly went on to star in the police-drama Action Hero Biju, the family-drama Jacobinte Swargarajyam, the political-satire Sakhavu,family-comedy Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela and the epic filmKayamkulam Kochunni which became the third highest-grossing Malayalam film followed by Lucifer and Pulimurugan. He has also made guest appearances in successful films like Vikramadithyan and Aanandam. Pauly made his debut as a producer with Action Hero Biju under his production company Pauly Jr. Pictures. He again produced Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his Tamil debut Neram. In 2015, Pauly won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his performances in Bangalore Days and 1983. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Malayalam for Action Hero Biju in 2016.
Pauly was born into a Catholic Christian family from Aluva, Ernakulam on 11 October 1984. Nivin's father, Pauly Bonaventure, was a mechanic who worked in Aarau, Switzerland and his mother was a nurse at a Swiss hospital. Pauly, who was brought up in Kerala, visited them in Aarau during his vacations, where they stayed for 25 years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Federal Institute of Science and Technology, Angamaly in 2006. Pauly was employed at Infosys in Bangalore through campus placements and worked as a software engineer from 2006 to 2008. However, he resigned and returned home after his father's death. He married his long time girlfriend Rinna Joy on 28 August 2010, at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Aluva. They were classmates at FISAT. They have a son, born in 2012 and a daughter born in 2017.
Career
Pauly applied for the audition of Malarvaadi Arts Club, but was not included in the 12 shortlisted actors. However, when one dropped out, he was given a second chance to the audition, and got his debut role. Since then, he had acted in the films The Metro and Sevenes, and had brief appearances in Traffic and Spanish Masala. He appeared in music video Nenjodu Cherthu from the albumYuvvh, what The Hindu called "a hugely popular", and became a viral hit on YouTube. The 2012 filmThattathin Marayathu was his acting vehicle, which became the biggest hit of the year. After Thattathin Marayathu, he was called "the current youth sensation" and "hot property". He received offers from directors including Sathyan Anthikad, Rajesh Pillai, Aashiq Abu and Shyamaprasad. Pauly made his debut in Tamil with the bilingual film Neram. His other Malayalam films in 2013 include Anju Sundarikal and Sunil Ibrahim's Arikil Oraal. In 2014, he appeared in Abrid Shine's directorial debut 1983, where he played the role of Rameshan. It was followed with debutant Jude Anthany Joseph's romantic comedy Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, in which he portrayed the role Giri. It was released a week after 1983. His next release Bangalore Days was directed by Anjali Menon. In the same year, he played an extended cameo in the Lal Jose film Vikramadithyan. In 2015, Pauly appeared in Mili, Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Ivide. He then acted in Premam, where he played the role of George David. It grossed over 600 million, and went on to become one of the highest grossing Malayalam movies. Pauly appeared in his first straight Tamil feature film through Gautham Ramachandran's crime dramaRichie, where he portrayed a small town thug. The film opened to mixed reviews and had an average response commercially, prompting other proposed Tamil films with debutant directors Suryaa Balakumaran and Prabhu Radhakrishnan to be shelved. Pauly next appeared in Geetu Mohandas' film Moothon. Which generally received positive reviews from critics.
