Nayanthara, born Diana Mariam Kurian, is an Indian actress working in the Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam industries, born on November 18, 1984, in Bangalore, Karnataka. Nayanthara’s father was an Indian Air Force officer, and she grew up in various parts of India. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. She worked as a model while in college and was approached to appear in the Malayalam film ‘Manassinakkare’ in 2003. The movie was very successful, and Nayanthara continued to receive acting offers. She worked with Mohanlal in her next two movies: ‘Natturajavu’ and ‘Vismayathumbathu’, both in 2004. From there, she started working in the Tamil industry and became a popular actress there. Some of her Tamil movies are ‘Billa’ (2007), ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ (2011), winning Filmfare Best Actress South, ‘Raja Rani’ (2013), Filmfare Best Actress South, ‘Naanum Rowdy Dhaan’ (2015), Filmfare Best Actress South, and ‘Aramm’ (2017), Filmfare Best Actress South, ‘Viswasam’ and Bigil’ (2020). Nayanthara made her debut in the Telugu industry in 2006 with ‘Lakshmi” and ‘Boss”. Other Telugu films of note are ‘Tulasi’ (2007), ‘Simha’ (2010), ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ (2011), winning Filmfare Best Actress Telugu, ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’ (2013), Best Actress – Critics South Indian International Movie Awards, and ‘Anaamika’ (2015). Finally, Malayalam films of note are ‘Bodyguard’ (2010), Best Actress – Asianet Film Awards, ‘Puthiya Niyamam’ (2016), Best Actress Filmfare Awards South, and ‘Bhaskar the Rascal’ (2016) Best Actress South Indian International Movie Awards. She is currently the highest paid actress in South India. Nayanthara is called Lady Superstar by her fans. In 2023, Nayanthara expanded into Hindi films playing opposite Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Jawan’, one of the highest-grossing films that year. She is the subject of ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale’ (2024) released on Netflix. In 2022, Nayanthara married director Vignesh Shivan and the couple has twins via surrogacy. They also have a film production company called Rowdy Pictures.
