Poornam Vishwanathan was a News reader, theater artist and film actor in the Tamil film industry. He started his carrier at the age of 18 as a news reader and he was the first person to announce independence of India in the news bulletin. He was very familiar in Kollywood for his peculiar voice modulation. He has acted in movies such as Aasai, Mahanadhi, Chithram, Varusham 16, Thillu Mullu, and Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu. He died at the age of 87 on October 1, 2008 in Chennai.