1991–1996: Early career and breakthrough

Swamy made his debut in Mani Ratnam's action drama film, Thalapathi (1991), where he played a young district collector pitted against a don and his own biological brother. Subsequently, Mani Ratnam signed him on to play the lead role in his 1992 political drama film Roja (1992). Roja and Bombay (1995) won awards at the State and National Film Award functions. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time Magazine.^[12] Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films.^[12] He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal. He lends his voice for the Tamil dubbing version for the adult Simba of Disney's The Lion King (1994).^[13] His next project was Indira (1995), followed by Telugu Mounam (1995) and Malayalam movie Devaraagam (1996).

1997–2000: Career challenges and sabbatical

He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu alongside Kajol and Prabhu Deva, which won four National Film Awards besides high box office reviews.^[14] During the making of the film, Arvind Swami was critical of Menon changing the script to prioritise Prabhu Deva's role. The film eventually performed well at the box office after a slow start, with Arvind Swami eventually stating he was happy to be a part of the film.^[15] His next film, Pudhayal (1997), again saw him portray a role in a film with a cast headlined by another actor, Mammootty. In the film, Arvind wore uncharacteristically loud clothes and portrayed a comedy-oriented role for the first time in his career.^[15] Working on the two films meant that he missed out on the opportunity of acting in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar (1997).^[15] He appeared in his first straight Hindi film through Priyadarshan's Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998) produced by Amitabh Bachchan. Co-starring alongside Juhi Chawla, Arvind portrayed the role of a village do-gooder.^[15]

In the late 1990s, several of Arvind Swami's films ran into production trouble. Three of his Tamil films, Gandhi Krishna's Engineer, Azhagam Perumal's Mudhal Mudhalaaga and Mahendran's Sasanam were all stalled after completing a few production schedules. The former two, which featured him opposite Hindi actresses Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, respectively, eventually did not have a theatrical release. Sasanam, which he worked on without remuneration, had a belated release in 2006. Two prominent Hindi films that he signed during the period, Mahesh Bhatt's venture with Aishwarya Rai, and Anupam Kher's directorial debut film co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, also eventually were dropped.^[15] His final two releases before his sabbatical, En Swasa Kaatre (1999) and Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000) also took several years to complete, with long delays during the production phase.^[16]

Swamy eventually stopped acting in films post-2000, after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey, and opted to concentrate on his business interests. As the director of V D Swamy and Company, he continued to engage in international trade and construction businesses. In 2000, he became the president of InterPro Global, and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing.^[12] He was in charge of operations and technology for the delivery of many processes across different verticals globally. He then founded Talent Maximus in 2005, a company engaged in payroll processing and temporary staffing in India. In 2005, he had an accident and injured his spine. He experienced partial paralysis of his leg and suffered in pain for many years. The treatment took another 4–5 years.^[11]

2013–present: Back to films

After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013)^[13] for which Swamy dropped 15 kilograms.^[17] In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon.^[18]

In 2015, he plays an iconic negative role of Sidharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan, for which he was highly praised and received positive reviews and many awards for his acting.^[19][20]

In 2016, he reprised the same role in Telugu in the film Dhruva with Ram Charan, a remake of Thani Oruvan, for which he got a lot of appreciation from the Telugu audience.^[21][22] Later the same year, he appeared in a Hindi movie, Dear Dad.^[23] The game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.^[24]

In 2017, he did the title role of Bogan, co starring Jayam Ravi, for which he again got an outstanding response from the critics and the audience.^[25]

In 2018, he acted in Bhaskar Oru Rascal. Arvind Swamy does a neat job without imitating what Mammootty did in the original.^[26] The film is followed by Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). The film was released to positive reviews which also got him the Filmfare Award.^[27]

In 2021, he acted in A. L. Vijay's directorial biographical-political drama Thalaivii opposite Kangana Ranaut. He portrayed the character of actor-politician M. G. Ramachandran in the film. Arvind Swami returns to Malayalam cinema after 25 years with Ottu (2022).^[28]

In the late 2010s, several of Arvind Swamy's films were delayed or shelved as a result of production trouble and the actor's insistence to have his salary settled. Production on Sathuranga Vettai 2 began in July 2016, but remains unreleased following a payment dispute with the film's producer Manobala.^[29] Vanangamudi was conceptualised by director Selva in 2014, with the shoot taking place in a slow manner over the course of nine years.^[30] Likewise, Naragasooran and Kallapart began their shoot in mid-2017 and mid-2018 respectively, but neither film has had a theatrical release.^[31][32] Other projects such as the Hindi-Tamil bilingual remake of Marathi film Kaksparsh and Santhosh Jayakumar's Pulanaivu were shelved despite entering production.^[33][34]

As an actor

As narrator

As dubbing artist

As playback singer

• "Udal Manukku" - Iruvar
• "Unnodu Naan Irundha" - Iruvar
• "Kooduvittu Koodu" - Bogan