Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu.[1] The awards were decided by a committee headed by a Judge. The awards were first given in 1967 and discontinued after 1970. The awards were given again in 1977 and continued till 1982. The awards were not given in the years 1971 to 1976. However, in the year 1977, the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor were announced for the years 1971 to 1976 by way of honorary certificates by the government led by the then chief minister M.G.Ramachandran. Since 1988, the awards were regularly given until it became defunct in 2008.[2]
After winning the election for the Producers Council of Tamil cinema, the chairman Vishal revealed that he would approach the government to reinstate the awards.[3][4] The awards were reinstated in July 2017 after the government announced the wins for 2009–2014.[5][6]
| Artist | Wins |
|---|---|
| K. Balachander | 11 |
| Kamal Haasan | 10 |
| Bharathi Raja | 9 |
| Prakash Raj | 8 |
| P. Vasu | 7 |
| Rajinikanth | 7 |
| R. B. Choudary | 7 |
| S. Janaki | 6 |
| Vadivelu | 6 |
| Vivek | 6 |
Awards are given in the following categories. Follow the links for lists of the award winners, year by year.