Biju Sopanam Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Biju Sopanam

• Biju Sopanam is an Indian television, theatre, and film actor known for his comedy in Malayalam TV and film industry.

• He is known by his character name “Balu Thampi” portrayed in the sitcom Uppam Mulakam (2015).

• He is also a renowned Sanskrit drama artist.

• Biju was born and grew up in a poor family in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

• He started his career in theatre at the age of 20.

• In 1992, he joined the Sopanam Theatre (now called Sopanam Institute of Performing Arts and Research) Group, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala to learn acting skills.
  

  Biju Sopanam performing at Sopanam Theatre

• He was trained under the guidance of Kavalam Narayana Panikkar. He was a renowned Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet.

• Biju did theatre for almost two decades.

• During his theatre, he also participated in Bharat Rang Mahotsav (1999) and other prestigious programmes all over India.

• Biju once said that Natyashasthra drama and the Oorubhagam stage play he performed in New Delhi had given him appreciation and recognition as a drama artist.

• In an interview, Biju revealed he had joined the theatre because he wanted to go into the film, but later after joining the theatre he focused only on drama and left his dreams of becoming a film actor.

• He played a short role in his debut film Rajamanikyam (2005). From 2005 to 2013 he appeared in 5 films but the roles in all films were short.

• In an interview, he revealed, that due to his body structure and physique, he got rejection many times during auditions.

• In 2015, he got the offer of his debut TV serial Back Benchers through a friend who also works in the TV industry. Biju mentioned it was the turning point of his career. His role was a comedy role, and later comedy role became his forte.

• In an interview, he said that the audience gave him so much love and fame for his performance in Back Benchers (2015) as Benjamin Brunou, College Principal that he could never achieve for twenty years from the theatre.

• On seeing his performance in Back Benchers (2015), TV serial director R. Unnikrishnan called him and offered him his upcoming sitcom TV serial Uppum Mulakum Season 1 (2015-2021).

• As he started spending all his time on the sets of Uppum Mulakum (2015), his theatre guru Kavalam Narayana Panikkar asked him to stop TV and resume theatre. But after watching his work on the show, he allowed Biju to continue TV, but in return asked him never to leave the theatre.

•  In 2016, after the death of his guru Kavalam Panikkar, he started handling his Sopanam theatre. He also decided to make the theatre name a part of his name and changed his name from Biju Kumar to Biju Sopanam.

• Biju has worked in more than 30 Malayalam films. Some of his films are C/O Saira Banu (2017), Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri (2018), Love Action Drama (2019), Priyan Ottathilanu (2022), Madhura Manohara Moham (2023), and Varshangalkku Shesham (2024).

• Biju’s younger brother Binoj Kulathoor (recurring role) and daughter Gouri Lakshmi are also acting in his show Uppam Mulakam in season 2 (2022-2024), and season 3 (2024-present).

• Apart from acting Biju also loves singing, although he is not a professional singer he practices and learns singing during his free time.
  

  Biju Sopanam in a recording studio

• In 2024, Biju underwent hair transplant surgery to treat hair baldness.

• Biju Sopanam is an animal lover, he has adopted a dog and a cat.
  

  Biju Sopanam with his dog