1. Nayanthara was born on Diana Mariam Kurian; 18 November 1984 and is an Indian actress known for her work primarily in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema.
55 Facts About Nayanthara
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Nayanthara made her acting debut with the Malayalam film Manassinakkare in 2003.
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Nayanthara debuted in Tamil cinema with Ayya in 2005, in Telugu with Lakshmi in 2006 and Kannada with Super in 2010.
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Nayanthara made her Hindi film debut with Jawan in 2023.
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Nayanthara is married to filmmaker Vignesh Shivan, and the couple has two children.
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Nayanthara was born as Diana Mariam Kurian on 18 November 1984 in Bangalore, Karnataka.
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Nayanthara belongs to a Malayali Syrian Christian family hails from Thiruvalla, Kerala, and was born to Kurian Kodiyattu and Omana Kurian.
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Nayanthara began her acting career in 2003 with the Malayalam film Manassinakkare.
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Nayanthara was spotted by director Sathyan Anthikkad, who had seen some of her modelling assignments and approached her to play a pivotal role in his film Manassinakkare.
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Nayanthara acted in Malayalam, Thaskara Veeran and Rappakal both co-starring with Mammootty.
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Nayanthara was portrayed in an item song in the film.
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Nayanthara then accepted to appear in an item number as herself in the Perarasu-directed masala film Sivakasi.
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Nayanthara next made her debut in Telugu, starring in the film Lakshmi, following which she performed in Boss, I Love You.
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Nayanthara regained her status in Tamil cinema by starring in the Vishnuvardhan-directed gangster film Billa.
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Nayanthara won the Asianet Award for Best Actress for her performance in Bodyguard.
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Nayanthara's performance was well appreciated by critics when it was screened at the International Film Festival of India.
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Nayanthara received high critical acclaim for her performance in the film, with Rediff.
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Nayanthara gave a fine understated performance conveying a kaleidoscope of emotions.
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Nayanthara portrayed the role of a journalist and her performance was praised, with a reviewer from Sify stating that "Nayanthara does not play the normal commercial glam-doll for a change and she is good" and "her chemistry with Rana is perfect".
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Nayanthara then went on to win her second Filmfare Award for her role of a deaf girl seeking revenge in Vignesh Shivan's black comedy Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.
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Nayanthara continued to play diverse roles, appearing as a village-based school teacher in Thirunaal, a spy in the commercially successful Vikram-starrer Iru Mugan and the queen of a fantasy kingdom in Kaashmora.
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Nayanthara played the female lead in the action thriller Velaikkaran.
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Nayanthara's first release in 2018 was a Telugu-language film Jai Simha in which she played the female lead.
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Nayanthara went on to portray the main lead in Nelson Dilipkumar's directorial Kolamaavu Kokila and the thriller Imaikkaa Nodigal alongside actor Atharvaa.
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Nayanthara appeared in the Malayalam film Love Action Drama, alongside Nivin Pauly where she attained an equal pay as that of male lead; for the first ever time in Malayalam cinema.
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Nayanthara was seen in Telugu biographical film, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, alongside Chiranjeevi and Tamannaah.
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Nayanthara starred in Netrikann, a remake of the 2011 South Korean film Blind.
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Nayanthara received critical acclaim for her portrayal of blind Durga CBI in the film.
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Nayanthara starred in the Malayalam film Nizhal and the much delayed Telugu film Aaradugula Bullet.
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Nayanthara was later seen in the Malayalam film Gold, alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran, in the Telugu film Godfather, the Tamil horror film Connect.
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Nayanthara marked her Hindi film debut with the action thriller film Jawan opposite Shah Rukh Khan.
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Nayanthara's performance received widespread critical acclaim, but her chemistry with Khan was criticised.
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Nayanthara then played a chef in Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food, alongside Jai for the second time after Raja Rani.
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Subsequently, the movie was removed from Netflix and Nayanthara issued an apology on Instagram for unintentionally causing hurt to Hindu sentiments in her film.
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In 2010, Prabhu Deva's wife, Ramlath, filed a petition in family court to prevent him from being in a live-in relationship with Nayanthara and requested reconciliation.
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In 2012, Nayanthara confirmed that she had ended her relationship with Prabhu Deva.
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Nayanthara is a humanitarian and lends support to several social causes.
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Nayanthara is a pro-Indian culture enthusiast and had participated in the 2017 pro-jallikattu protests in Chennai along with her husband Vignesh Shivan.
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Nayanthara has ventured into the skincare range with her brand named 9Skin and launched a female hygiene brand called Femi9.
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Nayanthara has done photoshoots and interviews with Vogue and Elle.
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Nayanthara is considered among the most popular actor of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema.
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Nayanthara is considered as one of the highest paid actresses in South Indian cinema, according to various media reports.
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In March 2022, according to a report by The Times of India, Nayanthara is the highest-paid South Indian actress.
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Nayanthara became the only South Indian actress to be featured in the Forbes India "Celebrity 100" list of 2018, with her total annual earning credited at 15.17 crore.
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Nayanthara became Chennai Times most desirable woman in 2015 and 2016.
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In 2023, Nayanthara opened her Instagram account, and broke Katrina Kaif's record to become the fastest female actor to reach a million followers.
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Nayanthara is widely praised for her impactful roles in Sri Rama Rajyam, Raja Rani, Puthiya Niyamam, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy and much more.
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Nayanthara is among the few South Indian actresses who have taken over the male dominated film industry with her strong films.
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Kayalvizhi Arivalan of Femina said that Nayanthara made women-centric films "the new norm".
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Nandini Ramnath of Vogue stated that Nayanthara is "southern cinema's brightest stars".
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Nayanthara received the Kalaimamani award, for her "Contribution in Tamil Cinema", in 2010.
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On 16 November 2024, actress Nayanthara penned a letter and published a cryptic Instagram post addressing Dhanush, where Nayanthara accused Dhanush of intentionally holding onto personal grudges and vengeance over the romantic relationship that unfolded between her and Vignesh Shivan during the shooting of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, a film which was produced by Dhanush himself.
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Nayanthara insisted that Dhanush had sent her a legal notice asking for a compensation of 10 crores for a 3-second video that was used in the Netflix documentary film Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale which were deemed as the behind-the-scenes recordings from the movie sets of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.
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Nayanthara revealed that the filmmakers had apparently re-edited and trimmed the documentary while removing the 3-second video sequence which had been shot from the shooting spots of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan as Dhanush did not grant permission for the usage of songs or visual cuts which featured in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan.
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The actress Nayanthara's acting career spans for two decades in which she has appeared in more than 75 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages.