Priyamani Biography

Born: June 4, 1984, Palakkad

Height: 1.68 m

Parents: Vasudeva Mani Iyer, Latha Mani Iyer

Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer, better known by her stage name Priyamani (born 4 June 1984), is an Indian film actress and model, who appears mainly in South Indian cinema. She made her film debut in 2003 with the Telugu film Evare Atagaadu while also making inroads into Tamil Cinema and Malayalam Cinema during 2004. In 2007, she gained widespread recognition for her role as a village girl in the Tamil film Paruthiveeran, receiving the National Film Award for Best Actress as well as a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for her performance. During the same year, she achieved commercial success in Telugu Cinema with Yamadonga.

In 2008, Priyamani received further critical acclaim for her role as Malavika in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha for which she received her second Best Actress prize at the Filmfare Awards South. The following year, she made her Kannada film debut in Raam opposite super star Puneet Rajkumar which proved to be a commercial and critical success. Although her Hindi film debut through Mani Ratnam's bilingual in Tamil and Hindi, titled Raavan and Raavanan respectively, failed to propel her Bollywood career forward, her subsequent films, particularly in Kannada cinema, established her as a leading contemporary actress in South Indian cinema. In 2012, she received her third Filmfare Award as the 'Best Actor Female-Kannada' for her portrayal of conjoined twins in the Kannada-Tamil-Telugu multilingual film Chaarulatha produced by the very popular legendary Kannada actor-director Dwarakish.

Early life

Priyamani was born in Palakkad, Kerala to Vasudeva Mani and Latha Mani. She is the granddaughter of the late Carnatic vocalist Kamala Kailas. She grew up in Bangalore. After completing her schooling, Priyamani modeled for print advertisements. After being approached by several directors and being considered, she starred in director Bharathiraja's Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, which was released in 2004.

She is currently pursuing a degree in B.A. in psychology. Bollywood actress Vidya Balan is her cousin.

Career

Early career

After her debut film Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, her Telugu debut was Evare Atagaadu,Priyamani then made her debut in the Malayalam film industry, where she starred in Satyam, but this film also performed poorly at the box office. She was signed by Tamil film director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to star in the 2005 drama Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. Before release, Balu Mahendra said "Priyamani has come up with an excellent performance in the movie. Her performance would be widely acclaimed." Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam was critically acclaimed but failed to keep the cash registers ringing. She won acclaim for her performance. In 2006, Priyamani starred opposite Jagapathi Babu in Pellaina Kothalo. The film was a super hit and got her 3 Telugu films.

Paruthiveeran and the future

Priyamani managed to prove her acting credentials and commercial appeal with 2007's Paruthiveeran, directed by the Tamil director Ameer Sultan, in which she was paired with debutant Karthi Sivakumar. A rural subject which told the story of a notorious young villager in Madurai, the film won critical acclaim and became a surprise box-office blockbuster. Priyamani's performance was unanimously praised: Indiaglitz cited "utterly cool and convincing" while another critic said "Priya Mani steals the show with her spontaneity and authenticity." She went on to win the National Film Award, followed by a South Filmfare Award, a Tamil Nadu State Film Award and an award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.

She had another blockbuster in Telugu, opposite Jr. NTR in the 2007 film Yamadongaand opposite Vishal in the Tamil film Malaikottai. She again received critical acclaim in 2008 for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha, in which she played a role based on the turbulent real-life story of late film actress Srividya. She won another Filmfare Award for her performance. In Tamil, she had a single release in 2008: Thotta.

In 2009 she had two Tamil releases, the masala film Arumugam and the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Classmates, titled Ninaithale Inikkum, in which she was paired for the third time with Prithviraj. The former was a commercial failure: Her Kannada debut opposite super star Puneet Rajkumar in Raam was also a commercial success. All three of her Telugu releases that year, however, (Drona, Mitrudu, Pravarakhyudu) did not do well at the box office. In 2010 she acted opposite Mammootty in the satirical film Pranchiyettan & the Saint which became the longest-running Malayalam film since 2005. She won a Filmfare nomination for her role as a Mumbai-based interior decorator in the film.

She was subsequently signed by director Mani Ratnam for his bilingual film, titled Raavanan and Raavan in Tamil and Hindi respectively.Soon after, she was roped in by Bollywood director-producer Ram Gopal Varma for his trilingual film Rakht Charitra starring Vivek Oberoi and Suriya. RGV decided to cast her after seeing her National Award-winning performance in Paruthiveeran.Her Kannada movie Only Vishnuvardhana with southern sensational star Sudeep became a blockbuster hit  and later she starred in Anna Bond with Puneeth Rajkumar again. Surprisingly Anna Bond, even after getting bad reviews from critics went on to become the biggest hit of the year making huge money at the box office.But this super hit film was termed as "The Most Disappointing Kannada Films of 2012" list by Rediff and had got a thumbs down from critics.