Karikol Raju was a Tamil film veteran actor who appeared in Tamil-language films. He acted in more than 500 films in a career spanning over five decades. He had started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor, villainous roles in films. He has acted along with four generation actors like as M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Jai Shankar, Muthuraman, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijayakanth, Mohan, K. Bhagyaraj, Arjun Sarja, Karthik, Prabhu.