Manikuttan

Thomas James, (born 2 March 1986) better known by his stage name Manikuttan, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Malayalam films. He is known for his role as Kayamkulam Kochunni in the 2004 television serial of the same title.^[1] He was also a part of the Kerala Strikers team in Celebrity Cricket League for several years.^[2] In 2021, he participated and won the third season of the reality show Bigg Boss.^[3][4]

Manikuttan
Manikuttan in 2019
Born	Thomas James (1986-03-02) 2 March 1986 (age 39) Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Alma mater	Mahatma Gandhi College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present

In this Indian name, the name James is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Thomas or by his stage name Manikuttan.

Early life

Thomas James was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.^[5] He attended St. Mary's Higher Secondary School in Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Mahatma Gandhi College.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Manikuttan debuted as a child artist in Varnachirakukal (1999). He was made his debut as a lead actor in the film Oru Peelekanenta Oormakke (2004). His first film appearance was in the Malayalam film Boyy Friennd (2005), directed by Vinayan.^[6] He has since acted in films such as Mamangam (2019), and Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (2021).

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

• All films are in Malayalam language unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year	Title	Role	Note
1999	Varnachirakukal	Balu	Child artist
2005	Boyy Friennd	Ramesh Prasad
2006	Bada Dosth	Nandu
2007	Mayavi	Satheesh
	Black Cat	Himself	Special appearance
	Chotta Mumbai	Sainu
	Heart Beats	Manu Idikkula
	Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan	Alex
	Flash
	Kalabham	Parthasarathy
2008	Kurukshetra	Naik Prakash
	Twenty:20	Dancer at the bar	Special appearance in the song "Hey Dil Deewana"
	Minnaminnikoottam	Minister's son	Cameo appearance
	Positive	Udayan
2009	Passenger	Sudheendran
	Dr. Patient	Rafeeq
	Meghatheertham	Young Balunarayanan
	Swantham Lekhakan	Vinod Raghavan
2010	Valiyangadi	Ananthu
	Thathwamasi	Lord Rama
	Chaverpada	Ameer Sulthan
	Elsamma Enna Aankutty	Jerry
	Four Friends	Vishnu
2011	Doctor Love	Venkidi
	Padmasree Bharat Dr. Saroj Kumar	Cadet Rajesh
2012	Kunjaliyan	Vinayan
	Karmayogi
	Grandmaster	Eby Kuriakose
	Thattathin Marayathu	Najaf
	Simhasanam	Suresh
	Scene Onnu Nammude Veedu	Rafique
2013	Hotel California	Sharath
	Crocodile Love Story	Sreeraj
2014	God's Own Country	Zakir
	Snehamulloral Koodeyullappol	Sabarinath
2015	Loham	Jayan's brother
2016	Pavada	SI Suresh Kumar
	Karinkunnam 6'S	Vishnu
	Oppam	Devayani's brother
2017	1971: Beyond Borders	Soldier
	Masterpiece	Singer	Cameo appearance
2018	Kammara Sambhavam	Thilakan
	Nimir	Shenbaghavalli's husband	Tamil film
	Irumbu Thirai	Kathir's colleague	Tamil film
2019	Mamangam	Moyin
	Thrissur Pooram	Ali
	An International Local Story	Himself	Special appearance
2021	Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea	Mayinkutty
2023	Divorce	Ramdas
2024	Kuruvipappa
	Nadikar	David's co-actor in a film	Cameo appearance[7]
	Sree Muthappan	Muthappan	[8]
	Secret	Harishankar	[9]
2025	Empuraan	Mani	[10]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Channel	Notes
2004	Black and White		Asianet
2004-2007	Kayamkulam Kochunni	Kayamkulam Kochunni	Surya TV
2008	Devi Mathathmyam		Asianet
2009	Idea Star Singer	Guest	Asianet
2016	Asianet Comedy Awards	Host	Asianet
2018	Super Jodi	Host	Surya TV	[11]
	Rana Maharani	Host	Surya TV	[12]
2021	Navarasa	Shanmugam	Netflix	Tamil television series[13]
	Bigg Boss Malayalam	Contestant	Asianet	Winner[3][4]
2023	Comedy Stars (Season 3)	Celebrity Judge	Asianet
	Katturumbu (Season 2)	Judge	Flowers TV