R Madhavan

In early 1996, Madhavan did a sandalwood talc advertisement for Santosh Sivan, who later recommended him to Mani Ratnam for a screen test for a role in Iruvar. Later in the same year, Mani Ratnam called Madhavan for the screen test, but left him out of the project citing that he thought his eyes looked too young for a senior role.[8][9] As his film career failed to take off, Madhavan went on to feature in Hindi television serials, appearing as a crook in his first venture Yule Love Stories. He appeared in a leading roles in Zee TV's Banegi Apni Baat and later in Tol Mol Ke Bol. He went on to as a captain in Sea Hawks, as a convict in Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum, and as an anchor in Tol Mol amongst others.[10] His popularity on television, led to him securing his first film role in Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, where he made a cameo appearance in a song as a club singer.

In 1997, Madhavan appeared in his first film role as an Indian police officer in Fred Olen Ray's Inferno alongside Don Wilson. His first chance in Indian movies came in the form of Shanti Shanti Shanti, a Kannada film, in which he acted in the second lead role to Abbas, an established actor. However, the film failed to make an impact and went unnoticed. During the period, Hindi film director Vinod Pandey launched Madhavan as a Bollywood hero, with a project titled Lakheli, however the film was abandoned by the producers soon after production began and the film was cancelled.

Madhavan's parents are Ranganathan and Saroja. Despite Madhavan's ambition of wanting to join the army, his parents insisted he went to management school and pursue a degree in electronics. After completing the degree, he went on to teach communication and public speaking at workshops around India. At the Maharashtra workshop, he encountered his wife Sarita Birje in 1991, an air hostess, who attended his class.

After completing the course, the pair began dating and married in 1999, before Madhavan entered mainstream films. The pair's successful marriage has been covered by the media, with Madhavan citing that advise from his mentor Mani Ratnam was useful. Sarita has worked as a costume designer in a few of Madhavan's films, most notably for Guru En Aalu (2009) when she worked along with Erum Ali, the wife of Madhavan's co-star, Abbas, for their respective husbands.

Their first son, Vedant was born in August 2005, which eventually led to relocating towards to the boat-club area in Chennai from Kilpauk. Madhavan's parents lived with him as did his parents-in-law. In 2009, he relocated to Kandivali, Mumbai with his wife and son, as he pursued a career in Hindi films ahead of films in the South Indian industries.