He was born in Karaikal, Puducherry, India to a Tamil father and Vietnamese mother. He grew up in Chennai's Vadapalani neighbourhood. His father, Perumal, worked as an assistant fight master in Tamil films. Later, Peter started his career as an extra fighter and assistant fight master for many Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. During the initial days of his career, he worked as assistant to action directors Kanal Kannan and Vijayan. During his early days he was body double for heroes as well as heroines.[4]
His debut film as "fight master " was in Gautham Vasudev Menon's debut directorial Minnale (2001). Krishna Vamsi, a Telugu film director recognised his sincerity and dedication[citation needed] and offered him the chance to direct the action sequences for the film Murari which was also dubbed into Tamil. From then on, he became a full-length action film director, action co-ordinator and stunt director for various Telugu and Tamil films.