Who Is Daniel Balaji? Tamil Actor Who Died Of Heart Attack At 48

Daniel Balaji, who worked primarily in Tamil films, died at the age of 48 on Saturday, March 30. The actor suffered a heart attack and passed away while going to a hospital in Chennai. His mortal remains are at his Purasaiwakkam home for the last rites.

Who Is Daniel Balaji?

Born in December 1975, Daniel Balaji began his career as a unit production manager in Kamal Haasan's incomplete Marudhunayagam. He made his acting debut on TV with a Tamil show, Chithi, in which he played the role of Daniel. He made his screen debut in the 2002 movie April Madhathil, but the following year, Gautham Vasudev Menon's Kaakha Kaakha gave him his first noteworthy part. 

He portrayed Srikanth in the movie, who is a police officer and close friend of Anbuselvan, played by Suriya. Thanks to positive reviews for his performance, Balaji reprised the role in the Telugu version of the movie, Gharshana. After Kaakha Kaakha, he played two powerful antagonist parts in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, where he reunited with GVM, and Vetri Maaran's Polladhavan, where he worked with the director for the first time. 

In Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (2006), he portrayed Amudhan, a psychotic serial killer who faced off against Kamal Haasan. In Polladhavan (2007), he portrayed Ravi, a thug from North Madras.

More about Daniel Balaji’s 20-year-long acting career

Over the course of his over twenty-year career, Balaji has chosen his projects carefully. His other films are Bairavaa (2017), Bigil (2019), Gangs of Madras (2019), Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (2016), Ippadai Vellum (2017), Maayavan (2017), Anandam Vilayadum Veedu (2021) and Ariyavan (2023), which was his last part in Tamil. Balaji, who has played a few roles in each of these languages, also dabbled in Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu films.

The Tamil film industry is shocked by the news of his demise and is expected to pay their last respects to him today.

(with inputs from ANI)