Namo Narayana who plays the absurdly funny Moorthy in Rajinikanth's Jailer 2 gave up a well-paying career in the software industry and tried to become a filmmaker, before accidently becoming an actor. He worked as a software engineer and business consultant across Bahrain, Malayasia, Dubai and the US prior to his entry in the cinema industry.
Namo was always fascinated by cinema and showed interest in filmmaking. He initially seesawed between his software job and being an assistant director. He later quit his high paying job in the US to completely immerse in the film industry. He had even received a 10 year visa, he recalled. "It seemed like I was finally settling into a corporate job when a situation arose and I gave up everything to be in films,” he said in a 2020 interview with Manobala, as reported by Indian Express.
However, his acting career was fortuitous. After exiting his technical job, he teamed up with director Samuthirakani and producer Michael Rayappan as an executive producer for the 2009 film, Nadodigal starring Sasikumar. While on set, Samuthirakani thought he was loafing around. "I would work until 7 in the morning, go to sleep and return in the afternoon. One time, when I came back, I had one person carrying my suitcase and another helping me with other things. According to the director, I was walking in late. Both Sasikumar and Samuthirakani thought that while they were struggling to shoot, I was chilling on set," he said. This led the crew to jockingly build a small character around him. However, his acting panned out ending in the expansion of his role.
After his debut, he surfaced in several movies, both in Tamil and Malayalam. Some of his work include Easan, Kedi Billa Kiladi Ranga, Jailer, Raayan and Rajini Murugan. After appearing in over 80 movies in the span of 15 years, his breakout happened in Nelson's Jailer 2. His character, Pazhakkadai Moorthy gained widespread recognition for his unblemished comedic timing, swag and the chess sequence with Suraj Venjaramoodu that has since become a crowd pleaser.
In a week since it's release, Jailer 2 has become one of the highest grossing Indian films of 2026, and has become the top earning Tamil film of the year. The sequel saw Rajinikanth return as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian, now investigating a larger idol smuggling syndicate.
Mohanlal, Shivarajkumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Vidya Balan, SJ Suryah, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Ramya Krishnan, Mirnaa Menon, Yogi Babu, Jatin Sarna, Tamizh, Ramachandran Durairaj, Jaffer Saadiq, Bagavathi Perumal, Meghana Raj Sarja, and Bjorn Surrao, round of the cast of Jailer 2.