Anandaraj, born on November 10, 1958, in Pondicherry, India, is an Indian actor renowned for his roles in Tamil cinema. He is the second of eight children in his family. Despite his father's aspiration for him to become a police officer, Anandaraj pursued his passion for acting with his family's support. He graduated from the M.G.R. Government Film and Television Training Institute in Chennai, where he was classmates with Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar. Anandaraj is married and has a daughter and a son.