Achamillai Gopi

He has done a number of short films brought out by the state government, promoting social awareness, and was also bestowed the prestigious Doctor Malcolm Adiseshiah award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1998.

The show titled 'Periya veetu thinnai', story of a young, learned man named Kadhirmani (played by Gopi) who goes to a village and helps solve the problems that surface in a village, including antagonism amongst the farmers. The show got so popular and the character Kadhirmani, very pertinent and relatable, that the television network received hundreds of letters from farmers all over Tamil Nadu seeking advice and answers to their problems. That was when the producer of the show, Mr. M.S. Perumal, decided to give his character 'Kadhirmani' a promotion. Since he was well versed in acting and singing, he was asked to address their doubts and issues through songs and dance. This garnered enormous reviews and continued to air for 8 long years from 1976–1983. The show became outstandingly popular, and he was titled 'Kadhirmani Gopi' from then on.

In the 1975 C.S.R.S.B. competitions organised by then chief minister of Tamil Nadu Mr. M.G.Ramachandran, Gopi won the best actor award in the acting category. The judges for this competition happened to be renowned celebrities in the Chennai television field, namely Mr. Gopali, M.S. Perumal (Director of the Doordarshan Kendra) and his acting troop, and Y.G.Parthasarathy, who suggested Gopi to join small screen to exhibit his talents better. Thus his journey with TV series started in 1975 with the super hit serial 'Periya Veetu Thinnai'.

In 1972, he was offered a job at the Accountant General's (AG) office. This job proved to be his major stepping stone to pursue his passion.

Though Gopi was naturally blessed with a good voice, he was trained under the tutelage of guru Shrimaan Kumbakonam Nataraj Iyer, and after a while, started his music troop 'Gopi Krishna' in 1970, facilitating his stage career and passion. Very soon he got the opportunity to do backing vocals for The Maestro Ilaiyaraaja and sung many songs for composers like Ravindran, Narasimhan and V.Kumar.

Gopalakrishnan (born 9 May 1955), fondly known as Achamillai Gopi, is an Indian film and television actor, singer, dramatist, and a voice over & dubbing artist. He has acted in a number of movies and TV serials and has also given his voice for various cine actors in multiple languages. He is a singer, owns a band called "Gopi melodies" for more than 30 years, and has been consistently performing live shows. He is also the nephew of singer Shri. Vani Jairam.