Romeo is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet. Forced into exile by his slaying of Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, in a duel, Romeo commits suicide upon hearing falsely of Juliet's death.

The character's origins can be traced as far back as Pyramus, who appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses, but the first modern incarnation of Romeo is Mariotto in the 33rd of Masuccio Salernitano's Il Novellino (1476). This story was adapted by Luigi da Porto as Giulietta e Romeo (1530), and Shakespeare's main source was an English verse translation of this text by Arthur Brooke. Although both Salernitano and da Porto claimed that their stories had historical basis, there is little evidence that this is the case.

Romeo is one of the most important characters of the play, and has a consistent presence throughout it. His role as an idealistic lover has led the word "Romeo" to become a synonym for a passionate male lover in various languages. Although often treated as such, it is not clear that "Montague" is a surname in the modern sense.

Juliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.

The play takes place over a time span of four days. Within these few days, Juliet is thrust into adulthood quickly—where she must deal with issues of life, love, passion, and even death. During the play she is courted by a potential husband (Count Paris), falls in love with another (Romeo), marries Romeo secretly, experiences the death of her cousin Tybalt, has one brief passionate night with her new husband before he is forced to leave the city, is threatened by her father and nearly disowned by both of her parents for refusing to marry the man they have chosen for her, she is emotionally betrayed by the nurse who raised her from infancy, spends nearly two days drugged to unconsciousness, is widowed, and ultimately commits suicide near the body of her dead husband.

Jayam Ravi (Tamil: ஜெயம் ரவி; born 10 September 1980 as Ravi Mohan) is an Indian film actor. Ravi has appeared in films including Jayam, M. Kumaran Son Of Mahalakshmi, Unakkum Enakkum, Santhosh Subramaniam and Thillalangadi all of which have been directed by his brother, M. Raja. His films are almost all remakes of Tollywood hits. They repeated the same success in Kollywood, too.

Ravi was born to Mohan, editor of South Indian cinema and Varalakshmi in a Balija family. He has two siblings; his elder brother M. Raja is a noted film director, with most of his films featuring Ravi in the lead role, while his sister Roja is a dentist. He completed his schooling at Jawahar Vidyalaya in Ashok Nagar, Chennai. He studied dancing under the Bharatnatyam dancer Nalini Balakrishnan and performed his arangetram at the age of 12. After completing his degree in Visual Communication from Loyola College, Chennai, he decided to get into the film industry. He has also undergone training in acting at the Kishore Namit Kapur Institute in Mumbai.