Rajiv Pillai

Biography

Considered to be the pioneer in the fashion industry from Kerala, Rajeev Pillai is an actor, and model who is noted for his work in Malayalam and Tamil cinema. 

Originally a dentist, Rajeev got interested in fashion and modeling while he was doing his masters in London, he eventually left dentistry and started modeling and soon gained wide popularity and success. His successful stint in the fashion industry inspired many youths from Kerala to take up modeling.

Born and raised in a small village called Nannoor in the south of Kerala, Rajeev had a very rather humble upbringing. After completing his 10th grade from the National High School where he was at the top of the school, he later moved to the NSS Hindu College to pursue his pre-degree.

He came into the spotlight and caught the eye of the public with his association with the Celebrity Cricket League; he played for the Kerala Strikers team in 2012 and 2013. The model-turned-actor before making his debut in films, modeled for a few international brands and also did a little bit of theatre in Mumbai.

 Whilst he enjoyed good success in the modeling industry, he had to struggle a bit to become an actor in films. The actor failed in the 31st auditions before eventually getting his first break with City of God (2011), wherein he played one of the lead roles.

Following his successful debut in films, he subsequently starred in several films like Veendum Kannur (2012), Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal (2012), which marked his debut in a Hindi film, Aambala (2015), Aviyal (2016) 7 Naatkal (2017) and Ankarajyathe Jimmanmar (2018), a Malayalam comedy-drama directed by Praveen Narayanan.