Born in Madras to director S. A. Chandrasekhar, Vijay made his debut as a child actor in the Tamil film Vetri (1984).

Vijay continued doing lead roles for the next few years with notable films amongst them included Poove Unakkaga (1996), Love Today (1997), Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Thulladha Manamum Thullum (1999) and Kushi (2000).

[9] At the age of 10, Vijay made his debut as a child actor in the Tamil film Vetri, produced by P. S. Veerappa in 1984.

[10] He then acted as a child actor in films such as Kudumbam (1984), Vasantha Raagam (1986), Sattam Oru Vilayaattu (1987) and Ithu Engal Neethi (1988).

[citation needed] Vijay played the lead role for the first time in Naalaiya Theerpu at the age of 18 in 1992.

[12][13] In 1996, Vijay acted in Poove Unakkaga, directed by Vikraman, which according to him, gave him his initial break and popularity.

[15][16] Later, he starred in commercially successful films such as Nerrukku Ner, Kadhalukku Mariyadhai, Ninaithen Vandhai, Priyamudan and Thulladha Manamum Thullum.

[17] In 2001, he acted in hat-trick box office successes; Friends, Badri and Shahjahan before starring in the action film Thamizhan alongside Priyanka Chopra in 2002.

[22] In 2003, following the action-romance film Thirumalai, Vijay starred in Ghilli, directed by S. Dharani, alongside Trisha and Prakash Raj.

[28] In late 2007, Vijay starred in the romantic thriller film Azhagiya Tamil Magan, where he portrayed a dual role for the first time in his career.

[34][35][36] Vijay continued to be one of the highest paid actors despite the moderate success of then recently released movies.

[38][39] In early 2011, Vijay acted in the romantic comedy Kaavalan, directed by Siddique which received positive response and a box office collection of ₹102 crore worldwide.

[50][51] Vijay starred in the action thriller Kaththi, which received positive reviews and collected ₹130 crore at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films in 2014.

[52] In 2015, he starred in the fantasy film Puli, directed by Chimbu Deven, which received mixed to poor reviews from critics.

[59] In 2017, the action thriller Mersal released, which became a commercial success, becoming the first of Vijay's films to gross over ₹250 crore.

[62][63][64] In 2018, Vijay acted in the political film Sarkar with Keerthy Suresh, which entered the 100 Crore Club within two days.

[78][79][80] The film performed well in overseas box office and was commercially successful, collecting more than ₹300 crore worldwide.

[93][94] His sci-fi action film The Greatest of All Time opened to mixed reviews, but had a theatrical revenue of more than ₹450 crore.

[107] Vijay deemed the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 passed by the BJP government as unacceptable as it will disrupt the social religious harmony of the nation.

[119] On 13 July 2021, the Madras High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by Vijay in 2012 seeking exemption of the Entry Tax for his Rolls-Royce Ghost car that was imported from the United Kingdom and imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh.

[129] News 18 describes Vijay as a "versatile actor" and a "fantastic playback singer, dancer and philanthropist".