Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan recently received the prestigious Chevalier de L'Ordre Arts et Lettres (The Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government. It is common knowledge that the other Tamil actor who received it is the late legend Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan in the year 1995.

However, there is another Tamil actor who received the Chevalier de L`Ordre Arts et Lettres between Sivaji and Kamal . It is the late magician turned actor Alex, who received it in the year 2010. Alex made his acting debut in Rajinikanth`s Valli` which the Superstar wrote and went on to star in a number of films before passing away in 2011 due to a brief illness. He found his place in the Guiness Book of World Records for staging a magic show nonstop for 24 hours and also Limca Book of Records for a 12 hours mind reading session.