Napoleon

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Kumaresan Duraisamy (born 2 December 1963), better known by his stage name Napoleon, is a Tamil film actor, politician and the founder and chairman of the Jeevan Technologies. As of 27 May 2009, He is a Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet. During his early ages, he acted in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam language films.

Early life

Kumaresan Duraiswamy, better known as Napoleon, was born on 2 December 1963—the fifth of six children. His family was occupied in agriculture. He graduated from St. Joseph's College, Trichy. His Father is Muruganesan Reddiar, and Mother is Mennakshi pillai.

Career

Politics

After college, he moved to the city^[which?] and became enthused by the ideologies of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. He joined that party, of which his uncle, K. N. Nehru, was also a member and at that time the Public Welfare Minister.

Napoleon contested the State Assembly elections of 2001, winning the Villivakkam constituency contest and thereby becoming a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He lost his membership in the 2006 elections, when he fought for the Mylapore constituency and was beaten by the actor, S. V. Shekhar. Subsequently, Napoleon nurtured the Perambalur constituency in the hope of becoming a Member of Parliament for the DMK, and succeeded in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. He was then appointed Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in the national government.

Films

When aged 27, he watched Udhaya, a Telugu movie, and was inspired to take up acting. He entered the Tamil film industry in 1991 with a role in Pudhu Nellu Puddhu Nathu, playing the part of a 60 year old man. Other roles followed, including in Seevalperi Pandi, Devasuram, Ravanaprabhu, Vattaram, Pokkiri and Dasavatharam.

Among the forthcoming Tamil and Telugu films in which he features are Saleem, Oye!, Pallikondapuram and Azhagarmalai

Entrepreneurship

In 2000 Napoleon founded Jeevan Technologies in Chennai, and then expanded into the USA and New Zealand. In 2008, the Jeevan IT Academy was started with the mission of training graduates to enter the corporate world with a thorough knowledge of industry standards.

Achievements and awards

• Won the “Kalaimamani” and "M.G.R." awards in 1998
• Vice-president of the South Indian Film Artists Association, 2000–2006
• Best Actor award by the Government of Tamil Nadu for Ettu Patti Rasa
• Received a Murasoli Trust “Kalaignar” Award, which is given to people who contribute to Tamil language, literature and culture, in 2007.

Filmography

References

• Actor Napoleon's website
• Jeevan Technologies