Santhakumari

Chuvanna Vithukal brought Santhakumari the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress in 1977, early in a body of work that now stretches across more than 250 films, plays, television serials and short films. Born in Kochi in 1957, the Malayalam actress was the eighth of ten children and studied at Thevara C.C.P.L.M High School in Ernakulam. Thoovanathumbikal and Kireedam are among her earlier films. She received the World Malayalee Council India region and Kairali Channel Award in 2009 and the Chalachithra Prathibha Award from the Kerala Film Critics Association in 2011. In 2012 the Malayalam Movie Artists Association (AMMA) presented her with a house named "Snehaveedu". More recently she played a village woman in 2018 (2023), and she appears in the Malayalam film Malavazhi.