Karthik Sivakumar , better known by his stage name Karthi, is an Indian film actor who works in the Tamil film industry. The younger brother of actor Suriya, Karthi holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and master of business administration in Industrial Engineering. Since he had always wanted to become a film director, he returned to India and joined Mani Ratnam as an assistant director. He was offered acting roles and made his acting debut in Paruthiveeran in 2007 as the title character. Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. He had his schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He gained a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Crescent Engineering College, Chennai. After graduation, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai and considered higher studies abroad. "I was earning about ? 5000, per month and found the work monotonous. That was when I thought, I should do something more", he recalled in an interview. Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United States,[5] and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his Master of Science in Industrial Engineering. While pursuing his masters, he also attended lectures on filmmaking. During his stay in New York, Karthi worked as a part-time graphic designer. He then decided to pursue a career in film-making; he attended two courses in basic film-making at State University of New York. He stated, "I always knew I wanted to be in films but I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. I loved movies and watched a lot of them. But my father insisted that I get a good education before I joined the film industry"