Showing all artists born at Kochi

Manasa Radhakrishnan is an Indian film actress who appears in Malayalam,and Tamil films.  She was born on 29 September 1998 at Ernakulam, Kerala, Schooling till 10th in Dubai, Indian high school Dubai and high school at The Choice School Tripunithura. Has learnt classical dance and cinematic dance, plays guitar.

Lakshmi Menon is an Indian film actress who appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She made her acting debut in Malayalam with Raghuvinte Swantham Raziya (2011) and debuted in Tamil as female lead with Sundarapandian, which emerged a commercial success.

Lakshmi Menon was born to the daughter of Dubai-based artist Ramakrishanan and dance teacher Usha Menon in Kochi, Kerala.

She started learning dance at her age of 3 and learnt Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathakali.

In 2011 Malayalam director Vinayan who saw her during Bharatanatyam telecast cast her in his film Raghuvinte Swantham Raziya. Soon after, she played the lead along with Vineeth in another Malayalam film titled Ideal Couple, directed by Ali Akbar.

After she began acting in Malayalam cinema, she was featured on the cover of a magazine and it caught the attention of director Prabu Solomon, who has cast her in Kumki opposite Vikram Prabhu.

Watching her performance, director Prabhakaran offered her the lead role in Sundarapandian opposite M. Sasikumar, which got released before than Kumki and made as her Tamil debut.

Amala Paul  is an Indian film actress, who works primarily in the Tamil film industry. After appearing in supporting roles in a few low budget ventures, she received critical acclaim for the portrayal of a controversial character in the film, Sindhu Samaveli. Despite the failure of that film, Amala became noted after playing the title role in Mynaa, receiving critical acclaim for her work. Since then, she has been signed on for several notable projects and is considered the leading upcoming actress in Tamil films.

Amala Paul, after finishing her Plus Two education, took a year out before planning to pursue engineering. At the time, her modelling portfolio was spotted by noted Malayalam director Lal Jose who offered her a supporting role in his remake, Neelathamara (2009). Despite emerging a success, the film failed to attract any further offers, as she had anticipated. She pursued roles in Tamil films and went on to sign the low-budget comedy film Vikadakavi which was delayed and ultimately became her sixth release, while also signing on to play the lead role in another small budget film Veerasekaran (2010). The film, which became her maiden Tamil release, was panned by critics and went completely unnoticed, while Amala's role was being labelled as 'minimal', and she later cited that she regretted doing the film and many of her scenes were edited out. 

Amala Paul then went on to work in Samy's controversial Sindhu Samaveli (2010), portraying the role of Sundari, who has an illicit relationship with her father-in-law. The director of the film had previously drawn criticism for his depictions of illicit romances as well as for assaulting his previous lead actress in a film, but Amala played down the issue citing that she had no problem with the director. She was approached after the major portions of her next release, Mynaa were ready and signed on before listening to the entirety of the story, claiming that she was shocked but not upset with the controversial scenes which she heard later. Upon release, the film met with contrasting reviews, whilst some critics refused to give the film a rating, declaring their disgust at the film's plot. Amala's performance won her critical acclaim. However her success was marred with extreme reactions from the public, with Amala claiming she received death threats from anonymous callers and was publicly scolded by women at a cinema hall in Chennai.

Amala's next release, the romantic drama film Mynaa (2010) by Prabhu Solomon, made her a recognised actress in the industry. The film had garnered much anticipation prior to release, with noted distributors Udhayanidhi Stalin and Kalpathi S. Aghoram purchasing the rights of the film after being impressed with it. Amala played the village belle Mynaa, attaining unanimous praise from critics for her portrayal; a critic labelled her work as "outstanding" and that she put in a "riveting performance", while other reviews claimed she had "immense talent" and scores in "every instance" in the title role. The film, which also saw her gain recognition from noted actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, subsequently became a large commercial success at the box-office. Amala Paul gained recognition from several award committees and notably secured the Vijay Award for Best Debut Actress, while also gaining nominations in the Best Actress category at the Filmfare Awards and the Vijay Awards.

Following the success of Mynaa, Amala became touted as the "new star of 2011" as she subsequently signed on to several prominent projects.  Her first release of 2011 was in a supporting role in the Malayalam drama film, Ithu Nammude Katha, a remake of the successful Tamil film Naadodigal and the second was meant to be her launch in Tamil films, the coming-to-age tale of five friends Vikadakavi with the film opening to limited screens. Both films opened to limited screens due to the moderate budget of the projects, with her performance in the latter being described as "full of potential". She went on to sign three big budget films with established production houses, with the drama Deiva Thirumagal directed by Vijay, featuring her opposite Vikram and alongside Anushka, becoming her next release. Her portrayal of school correspondent Shwetha Rajendran won critical acclaim with a reviewer citing that her "expressive eyes help her leave a mark in a small but important role" whilst another critic claimed she "acquits herself well". Her final release of 2011 was Ram Gopal Varma's Bejawada which marked her début in Telugu language films. The film saw her portray college girl, Geetanjali, and featured her opposite Naga Chaitanya, but the film opened to negative reviews and became a surprise box office failure.

Amala Paul's first release of 2012 was in Linguswamy's multi-starring action entertainer, Vettai, alongside Arya, Madhavan and Sameera Reddy. The film opened to critical and commercial acclaim with The New York Times claiming the film "entertains without breaking any new ground, though it can also surprise". Amala Paul won mixed feedback for her performance; while the critic from Sify mentioned she "is lovely to look at and her feisty performance proves that a star is born", Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff cited she "struts, pouts and hams to the hilt". The actress had three films released on the Valentine's Day weekend of 2012, with Balaji Mohan's bilingual Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi and Love Failure becoming critical and commercial successes. 

The film, made in Tamil and Telugu, featured her alongside Siddharth and portrayed as her college girl, Parvathi, showing her romantic encounter. About the Tamil version, a reviewer from The Hindu wrote: "Amala Paul, after coming across as convincing in her last few movies, looks finally set as a leading lady", while another critc labelled that she "comes across as natural" and "it is a pleasure to see her in a role and costumes that suit her age as compared to her recent movies". Rediff.com called the Telugu version of the film "refreshing", highlighting that the lead pair's on-screen chemistry "sparkles". The romantic thriller Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal opposite Adharvaa, also released on the same day in which she played Charulatha, a modern girl based in Bangalore. The film won mixed reviews, though the lead pair's on-screen chemistry was praised by critics, while another reviewer noted that "Amala renders an effortless act". She played a notable role in renowned director Dr. Biju's Aakashathinte Niram, which was her first art-house film. The film was screened at the competition section for the Golden Goblet Award in the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival. She paired with veteran Malayalam actor Mohanlal in the film Run Babby Run in which she played the role of a senior news channel editor. The film was a big commercial success and her performance as well as her chemistry with Mohanlal were highly appreciated.

Devika Madhavan aka Sruthi Nair is a south Indian cine and serial actress who acts mainly in Tamil language films. She started her career as a serial actress in Malayalam language serials.

Shruti Nair, First Runner Up at the Miss Kerala 2011,debut in Malayalm movies as the Lead Heroine in MJS Media's movie DOLLS, directed by Shalil Kalur. Shruti Nair is currently studying First Year BSc Visual Communication at SRM University, Chennai.

Born at Shoranur, Kerala, into a Naval family, her father is a Rear Admiral in the Indian Navy and her mother, Geetha, is a housewife. Shruti has been very interested in the world of fashion and movies.

In addition being chosen as the First Runner Up at Miss Kerala 2011, some of her earlier achievements have been winning the Miss Princess Kochi 2011 pageant in June this year, being chosen for the finals for the Kochi International Fashion Week (KIFW) 2011, being voted as Miss Most Popular at the Navy Queen Contest 2010 at Mumbai and being a part of very many other fashion shows and events.

Pearle Maaney (born 28 May 1989) is an Indian actress, lyricist, YouTuber, and television presenter who works in Malayalam films. She is known for co-hosting three seasons of the Malayalam dance reality show D 4 Dance. In 2018, Pearle emerged as the first runner-up of the Big Boss Malayalam season 1.

Pearle Maaney was brought up in a Syro-Malabar Syrian Christian joint family based in Kochi with roots at Chowara.She did her schooling in Holy Angel's Convent Trivandrum and Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery, and completed her graduation in media studies from Christ University, Bangalore.

Pearle Maaney has anchored over 250 episodes of the music show Yes Jukebox on the Malayalam television channel Yes Indiavision, a subsidiary of Indiavision. She hosted Taste of Kerala, a travel-based cookery show on Amrita TV under the stage name Serah.

In October 2014, she started hosting the dance reality show GumOn D2 on Mazhavil Manorama, replacing host Jewel Mary. Her co-host was Govind Padmasoorya.She also hosted season 2 of the Kaumudy TV programme Cinema Company. In 2018, she contested in the first season of the reality show Bigg Boss on Asianet and emerged as the runner-up. She was the only female contestant to complete 100 days.

During season one of the Bigg Boss reality show in 2018, she got involved in a romantic relationship with her co-contestant Srinish Aravind and both of them expressed their wish to get married. On 17 January 2019, Pearle Maaney got engaged to Srinish Aravind at a private ceremony.On 5 May 2019 the couple got married as per Christian customs and on 8 May 2019 they had a Hindu wedding ceremony as well. In March 2021, Pearle gave birth to a girl, Nila Srinish.

Madonna Sebastian, a Kerala-based youngster, will be playing the female lead in director Nalan Kumarasamy’s next, which has actor Vijay Sethupathi as the male lead. The Times of India reported that this yet-to-be-titled will be a breezy romantic drama.Madonna Sebastian is also a playback singer who has rendered a song in the recent Malayalam film, You Too Brutus. She has also performed in several episodes of Music Mojo, a popular music programme on Kappa TV. Madonna is one of the three female leads in director Alphonse Puthran’s upcoming film Premam, which has Nivin Pauly in the lead role.

Shakthisree Gopalan is an Indian vocalist, Song writer and performer in both Indian contemporary, Pop and Soft rock genres.  She is a lead vocalist for the freestyle band group called Off The Record (formed:2009). After having won the "SS Music Voice Hunt" title in the year 2008, Gopalan debuted into film playback in the same year. She was placed third in the Chennai Live's Band hunt.

Shakthisree was born and brought up in Kochi, Kerala. She did her schooling in Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery. She moved to Chennai after her school and pursued her degree in Architecture at the Anna University’s School of Architecture and Planning.

She was trained in Carnatic music for 13 years. During her 11th grade, SS Music conducted Voice Hunt 1. Since she was under 18, it ended with the auditions. Eventually in 2008, she won the second season of SS Music's Voice Hunt. She first auditioned in November 2008 and got the opportunity to sing her debut song for the film Taxi 4777.  She is an architecture graduate from Anna University School of Architecture and Planning.

She is a superb performer on Pop, Indian contemporary, and soft rock genres. Just like other famous bands, she also has a freestyle band known as “Off the Record” which is formed during May 2009. After she got the title SS Music Voice Hunt in the year 2008, she had her first public appearance in the said year in the field of film playback whereas she got the third place in Chennai Live Band hunt.

At the age of 13, Shakthisree Gopalan is already trained in the field of Carnatic music.“Off the Record” consists of Vikram Vivekanand (Guitar), Satish Narayanan (Bass) and Tapas Naresh/Vinay Ramakrishnan (Drums). The band's music is characterised by surrealist lyrical themes, lot of clean guitar work, psychedelic and modern overtones, and a tight drum and bass section.

She recorded her voice for the songs for films such as “Irumbukottai Murattu Singham”, “Kattradhu Kalavu” and “Rajathi Raja”. She has also been a backing vocalist for many A R Rahman compositions and eventually got her break by singing the title track for the composer's Bollywood film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). She also got to jam the unplugged version of her Tamil film song "Nenjukkule" from the film Kadal with A R Rahman.

Rajesh Murugesan (born 14 May 1988) is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema, with films such as Neram and Premam.

Rajesh Murugesan from Nagercoil and hails from Thripunithura in Ernakulam district, Kerala. He completed his schooling at Cochin Refineries School, Ambalamugal and graduated with a Degree from SAE International College, Chennai in 2008.

Rajesh made his debut as a music director in Neram a Tamil - Malayalam bilingual film which was directed by Alphonse Putharen and released in 2013. The music won him immediate attention.

The promo song Pistah: The Run Anthem, had gone viral in 2013. The song Pistah also featured as IPL promo song for the year 2016. In 2015, he worked on another movie by Alphonse Putharen, Premam. All the songs in the movie received excellent critical response and the song,'Malare' broke the record for the fastest song in Malayalam to reach 5 lakh hits in YouTube.

Ayilya Nair (born 29 March 1987), better known by her stage name Ananya, is an Indian film actress, who appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. Ananya was born as Ayilya to Malayali parents Gopalakrishnan Nair, a noted film producer, and Praseetha in Perumbavoor, Kerala. She has one brother Arjun, who is an engineering student. She appeared as a child artist in one of her father's productions, Pai Brothers (1995). Ananya pursued a B.A. degree in Communicative English at St. Xavier's College, Aluva. During her childhood, she was an archer and won the State Championship.

While representing her college in a television reality show "Star Wars", she was spotted by various directors and received acting offers. After declining five projects, she decided to give it a try, accepting to act in Positive. She made her acting debut in Malayalam with Positive (2008) and debuted the following year in Tamil with Naadodigal, which emerged a critical and commercial success. She currently has a list of films in her hands in Malayalam and Tamil.

She also played a supporting role in Kandahar, which saw her sharing screen space with Mohanlal, Sunil Shetty and Amitabh Bachchan. In 2011, Ananya played one of the female lead roles in Engeyum Eppodhum, which received rave reviews and became a super hit

Ananya got engaged to Anjaneyan, a businessman from Trichur on 3 February 2012. However 2 weeks later news came that she has cancelled her engagement after knowing that Anjaneyan had a previous marriage from which he had sought divorce. This news hasn't been confirmed by the actress nor by her family.

Asin was born in Cochin, Kerala on 26 October 1985, to Joseph and Seline Thottumkal. Her father, Joseph Thottumkal originally from a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family in Thodupuzha, managed several businesses. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal remains a surgeon, who moved settlements from Kochi to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter. Asin's father was keen to name her as Mary, after her grandmother. He however named her Asin as the name had a beautiful meaning. Asin has quoted that her name means "pure and without blemish". She claims that the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit meaning "without", and 'sin' from English".

She attended Navy Children School from L.K.G. (Pre.K) through 10th standard (grade). She then attended St. Teresa's School in Kochi for her Plus Two education. After that she attended St. Teresa's College for Women in Kochi, a college affiliated with MG University, where she earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature. The actress can speak seven languages; being well-versed in Malayalam (her mother tongue), two other South Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu) as well as Hindi, French, English and Sanskrit. Asin is also learning Marathi for her upcoming movie Khiladi 786 in which she plays a typical Marathi girl.

Asin Thottumkal debuted in a Malayalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, at the age of 16. After taking a year out to pursue her education, Asin returned with her breakthrough film as an actress, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja, portraying a Tamil girl in her first Telugu language film, which subsequently fetched her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the same year she won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna in her second Telugu film, Shivamani. Her following two Telugu films, Lakshmi Narasimha and Gharshana, both portrayed Asin as the love interest for police officers.

Asin's first Tamil language film was M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, in which she co-starred with Jayam Ravi. Asin reprised her role from her film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi for the remake, which saw her portraying a Malayali girl instead of the Tamil girl in the original. The movie subsequently went on to become one of the biggest hits in Tamil cinema during 2004, introducing Asin to Tamil film industry. After a brief return to Telugu films, to do Chakram, she appeared in Ullam Ketkumae. The film, initially launched in 2002, is a college love story, directed by Jeeva, which was long-delayed but eventually became a successful venture at the box-office, creating wider opportunities for her and the rest of the cast.

After the release of Ullam Ketkumae, Asin was cited as a leading heroine of the Tamil film industry after starring in blockbuster films like Ghajini, Sivakasi, Varalaru and Pokkiri respectively. The film which provided the breakthrough for Asin was Ghajini. The film, co-starring Surya and was directed by A. R. Murugadoss, earned her the Tamil Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her role was that of a vivacious young model named Kalpana. Sify.com praised her portrayal as "magical", describing her character as a "lovable chatterbox", played with "sheer ability in the romantic interludes, the poignant and heartfelt scenes when she rescues minor girls from villains and her gory end are touching". The following Diwali in 2005, Asin had two releases, Sivakasi and Majaa. Despite the latter becoming an average grosser, the former went on to be a successful venture at the box office.

The following year, her long-delayed venture, Varalaru opposite Ajith Kumar also succeeded at the box office, and The Hindu said she "looks lustrous and sails through her role smoothly". Asin appeared in Pawan Kalyan's Annavaram, another successful venture which was a remake of Thirupaachi. In January 2007, Asin appeared opposite Ajith Kumar and Vijay in two different films, Aalwar and Pokkiri, with the latter becoming a success, whilst Aalwar became a failure. Whilst Asin's role in Aalwar was criticized, her performance in Pokkiri was lauded by critics. Her final project of the year was opposite Surya, in Hari's Vel, which had a Diwali 2007 release, subsequently becoming her third successful film which released during the Diwali season in three years. Asin, who portrayed a TV anchor, was appreciated for her role in the film.

Asin appeared in her first dual role in K. S. Ravikumar's Dasavathaaram opposite Kamal Haasan, who portrayed ten roles. The film, which was under production since September 2006, became Asin's largest film till date. Despite being overshadowed by Haasan's ten roles, Asin's portrayals in the film were praised as her "best-to-date" with one of her roles being that of a Vaishnavite in 12th century Tamil Nadu; whilst the other character was a Brahmin girl from Chidambaram for which she won her first ITFA Best Actress Award. Dasavathaaram subsequently went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in South Indian film history.

Since establishing herself as the leading actress in South India, Asin opted to move into Bollywood. Her first film, Ghajini opposite Aamir Khan was the remake of her breakthrough film of the same name. Upon release, the film garnered positive reactions from critics and masses alike, with Asin being singled out for her "fabulous" portray. Noted critic, Taran Adarsh described her Hindi debut as "fabulous" and that "to share the screen space with an actor of the stature of Aamir Khan and yet remain in your memory even after the show has ended is no cakewalk. She looks fresh and photogenic and acts her part brilliantly", giving Asin's performance a positive outlook.

Ghajini became the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2008 and sixth highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time according to net collections. Asin later appeared in Vipul Shah's London Dreams alongside Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan, in which she played as a south Indian girl, Priya, who is emotional but strong willed and an ambitious dancer at the same time. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Her first film of 2011 was Kaavalan which released on 15 January 2011. The film was a critical and commercial success. Behindwoods review of the film praised her performance: "Asin, in Tamil for the first time after Dasavatharam, convinces us with her portrayal. The chemistry of the lead pair has worked out well; especially the portions where Asin tries various ways to exasperate Vijay; things that ultimately result in love". The Chemistry between Joseph Vijay and Asin Thottumkal worked out well and was appreciated like their before films Sivakasi and Pokkiri.The film also includes Vadivelu as the comedian along with Mithra Kurian, Roja Selvamani, Rajkiran playing supporting roles.

Asin is the brand ambassador for a number of products including Fairever Fairness cream, Clinic All Clear Shampoo, Parachute Hair Oil, Colgate Maxfresh Tooth paste, Mirinda (soft drink), Spinz Talcum Powder, BIG 92.7 FM Radio station, Tanishq, Goldplus Jewellery, Fair & Lovely, and Sure (anti-perspirant).

The soap brand Lux signed Asin as their brand ambassador in late 2010. Earlier, Asin was also signed as the brand ambassador for Amrutanjan. Asin was also the brand ambassador for Big Bazaar, with the Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.