Kamal Haasan (born Parthasarathy Srinivasan on 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter, social activist and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil, he has also appeared in some Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali films. Considered as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Haasan is also known for introducing many new film technologies and film making techniques to the Indian film industry. He has won numerous accolades, including Four National Film Awards, Nine Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Four Nandi Awards, One Rashtrapati Award, Two Filmfare Awards and 17 Filmfare Awards South. He was awarded the Kalaimamani Award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2016.
Haasan is an atheist and has often questioned the existence of God and has highlighted the theme in his films like Anbe Sivam and Dasavathaaram.He was mistaken to be Muslim because of his Arabic-sounding name, most notably when he was denied preclearance to travel to the United States by Customs and Border Protection authorities at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2002