Tamil cinema (also known as the Kollywood, the Tamil film industry, the Cinema of Tamil Nadu or the Chennai film industry) is the film industry based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, dedicated to the production of feature films in the Tamil language. It is based in Chennai's Kodambakkam area, where several South Indian film production companies are headquartered. With reference to this, the industry is also colloquially referred to as Kollywood, a portmanteau of Kodambakkam and Hollywood. Tamil cinema is known for being India's second largest film industry in terms of films produced, revenue and worldwide distribution, with audiences mainly including people from the four southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, placing the industry among the largest in the world.

Silent films were produced in Chennai since 1917 and the era of talkies dawned in 1931 with the film Kalidas. By the end of the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Madras passed the Entertainment Tax Act of 1939. Tamil cinema later had a profound effect on other filmmaking industries of India, establishing Chennai as a secondary hub for Telugu cinema, Malayalam cinema, Kannada cinema, and Hindi cinema. In its modern era, Tamil films from Chennai have been distributed to various overseas theatres in Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, Oceania, the Middle East, Western Europe, and Northern America. The industry also inspired filmmaking in Tamil diaspora populations in other regions, such as in Europe and Canada.

Viluppuram Chinnaiahpillai Ganesan Manrayar, commonly known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan (1 October 1927 – 21 July 2001), was an Indian stage and film actor active during the latter half of the 20th century and was one of the most respected film actors in India. He was well known for his versatility and acting skills with numerous roles depicted on screen. He progressed from a stage actor since his childhood to the filmdom with such an authority that the Tamil cinema considered as the golden era. In a career spanning close to five decades he has acted in nearly 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

Ganesan was the first Indian film actor to win a "Best Actor" award in an International film festival, the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Cairo, Egypt in 1960. Many leading South Indian film actors have stated that their acting was influenced by Ganesan. He was also the first Indian actor to be made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Ganesan is remembered as the iconic figure of Tamil cinema. He is referred to as "The Marlon Brando of Indian Cinema". From Parasakthi onwards, he has won the President's Award for more than 12 times. During end of his career, Ganesan was conferred the highest and the most prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian cinema in 1997. In spite of his celebrated film career, his short stint in politics became a futile attempt.

Prabhu Deva born 3 April 1973 is an Indian dancer, choreographer, film actor and director. He has performed in a wide range of dancing styles. He has also been labelled as Indian Michael Jackson and holds Michael Jackson as his dance idol.

Prabhu Deva was born in Mysore, Karnataka and grew up in Alwarpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Prabhu Deva was inspired by his father, Mugur Sundar (known as Sundaram Master), who was a choreographer for popular South Indian movies. Prabhu took dancing as his passion, learning Indian classical dance forms such as Bharatanatyam as well as Western styles. He is widely considered to be one of Indian cinema's greatest dancers and choreographers; Prabhu Deva has revolutionized some of the aspects of dance and choreography in modern popular Indian cinema. His brothers Raju Sundaram and Nagendra Prasad are also established South Indian choreographers.

Prabhu Deva's first movie as a choreographer was Vetri Vizha (1989). Before that, he had appeared as a background dancer for a song in the Tamil film Agni Natchathiram. He has since then choreographed in over 100 movies. From choreography, he went on to establish himself as an actor. His first film as an actor was Indhu (1994) with actress Roja. In 1999, Deva, Shobhana and A. R. Rahman performed with a Tamil cinema dancing troupe at the "Michael Jackson and Friends" concert in Munich, Germany. He has a significant fan following in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries. He acted alongside his brothers in the movie 123. As of 2010, he serves as chairman and director of the Prabhudeva's Dance Academy in Singapore. He planned to release his first video album called It is boring (in Tamil போருடா) in 2012. He is acting in lead role in the film ABCD (Any Body Can Dance), the first 3D dance film in India, co-starring with So You Think You Can Dance contestant Lauren Gottlieb.