Manju Warrier

Manju Warrier was 17 when Sakshyam (1995) gave her a film debut, after an early television appearance in the Doordarshan serial Moharavam. She was born on 10 September in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, into a Malayali family with roots in Pullu village in Thrissur district, and grew up in Kannur. A trained classical dancer as well as an actress and producer, she is a prominent name in Malayalam cinema and also works in Tamil films. Within about three years came some 20 films, Sallapam, Thooval Kottaram, Ee Puzhayum Kadannu, Aaraam Thampuran, Kanmadam, Summer in Bethlehem and Pathram among them. Ee Puzhayum Kadannu won her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, and Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu (1999) earned a special jury mention at the National Film Awards. After 1999 she stepped away. The stage saw her first, in 2012, with a Kuchipudi recital at Guruvayur; the screen comeback was How Old Are You? (2014). Her honours include a National Film Award, a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, a record seven Filmfare Awards South and the 2014 Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award, the first given for Kuchipudi. In Lucifer (2019) she played Priyadarshini Ramdas. Upcoming are Odiyan: The Age of Illusion and Happiloop, a family film from Vaazha director Anand Menen in which she leads alongside Mukesh and JP Thuminad.