Tovino Thomas

Tovino Thomas (born 21 January 1989) is an Indian film actor who appears in Malayalam cinema. He made his debut in 2012 with the Malayalam film Prabhuvinte Makkal. Tovino is recognized for the wide range of characters he has portrayed which includes protagonists, strong crucial characters and negative roles.

He won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ennu Ninte Moideen (2015). He also won the Kerala Film Critics Association Award for his performance in Mayaanadhi (2017).

For his distinct looks and style, Tovino was ranked 6th among the list of most desirable men from Kerala published by Kochi Times, which is a subsidiary of The Times of India. In 2018, Tovino ranked first in the list of most desirable men published by Kochi Times.

Early life
Tovino was born on 21 January 1989 in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur as the younger son of Adv. Ellikkal Thomas and Sheela Thomas. He grew up in the Syro-Malabar Church. He has two siblings, Tingston Thomas and Dhanya Thomas. He completed primary schooling from Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Irinjalakuda and Secondary schooling from St Mary's Higher Secondary School Irinjalakuda and completed bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Tamilnadu College of Engineering, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. He later worked in Cognizant Technologies as a software engineer. He was active in sports, fitness and modeling. Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly is his second cousin.

Film career
Tovino made his acting debut in Prabhuvinte Makkal directed by Sajeev Anthikkad in 2012. Subsequently, he worked as an Assistant Director in Roopesh Peethambaran's Theevram. In ABCD (2013) he portrayed an antagonist. Tovino appeared as the lead in the film Koothara which also featured Mohanlal. He played a lead role in Roopesh Peethambaran's second directorial venture You Too Brutus.

He has played major roles in the films including 7th Day (2014) and Charlie (2015). He portrayed the role of Perumparambil Appu in the film Ennu Ninte Moideen which was released in 2015. He won his first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ennu Ninte Moideen.

He played the role of Thejus Varky in Guppy (2016) which was well received by audiences upon the DVD and digital release. He won the New Sensational Hero Award at the NAFA 2017 for his performance in the film.

He has appeared in Oru Mexican Aparatha, Ezra, Godha and Mayanadi in 2017. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor and Behindwoods Critics Award for Best Actor for Mayaanadhi.

In 2018, Tovino Thomas was cast in a major role as the antagonist in Maari 2 with Dhanush which was his Tamil debut. He did major roles in Lucifer, Uyare and Virus in 2019. Uyare was released in South Korea, the first Malayalam film to do so. His other releases in the year were And the Oscar Goes To..., Luca, Kalki and Edakkad Battalion 06.

In 2020, he was seen in the film Forensic with Mamta Mohandas, which has got a good response from the audiences and a major box office success.

Personal life and off-screen work
Tovino married his longtime girlfriend, Lidiya at St. Thomas Cathedral, Irinjalakuda, on 25 October 2014. The duo had met during their school days and married after nine years. They have a daughter born on 11 January 2016 and a son born on 6 June 2020. Tovino Thomas had volunteered during 2018 Kerala floods to lead rescue and rehabilitation missions.

On October 7 2020 He was hospitalized for injuries during on set of upcoming film Kala.