The origins of Tamil cinema roots back to street plays and later stage plays. At the beginning of the 1900s actors at a young age went to a Gurukulam and stayed for months together to learn the nuances of acting from the masters. The legendary Sivaji Ganesan, MGR, Manorama, Nagesh, Muthuraman and M.R. Radha and almost all their contemporaries were the products of the stage.

During the 70s and 80s the Film Institute came into being with the Pune and the Chennai campuses the most preferred destination for aspiring actors. Superstar Rajinikanth, Megastar Chiranjeevi, Karthick, Raghuvaran and Nassar are a few of the big names who were alumni of the Adayar institute.

The new millennium saw institutes like the Koothupattarai who taught students a variety of skills such as miming, martial arts, method acting, dumb charades etc which equipped them to learn emoting in a scientific way. Karthi, Suriya and Vijay Sethupathi are just a few of the leading stars who have embraced this process of honing their histrionics.

Inexplicably, there are other stars and superstars who do not have any formal training in acting, but sizzle with their inborn talent and the best teacher of them all EXPERIENCE. Kamal Haasan,Vikram, Vijay, Ajith, Dhanush, Simbu, Jayam Ravi, Jiiva, Arya, Vishal and Sivakarthikeyan to name a few are as successful and popular among fans as those who have had formal training. Well, we can safely conclude by saying that true talent will shine whichever path it takes to achieve its goals.