Showing all artists born in 1976

John Vijay is an Indian Tamil film actor, who has essayed supporting roles. He did his B.Sc in Visual Communication from Loyola College. Vijay also works as the head programme director of Radio One FM. John is the chief of 'H2O', an advertising agency with its office at Nungambakkam. He has appeared in Raavanan, Oram Po and Thillalangadi.


He is married to Madhavi Ilangovan, daughter of Minister TKS Ilangovan on January 21, 2011.


His performance as “Sun of Gun” in ‘Oram Po’ hit the bull’s eye, and his dialogues are a big hit with college students and the youth, his performance was described by critics as "scene stealer, his antics bring the house down. He did not have to go searching for a breakthrough. It landed in his lap as Pushkar and Gayatri, who directed ‘Oram Po,’ were his juniors in the Visual Communications course in Loyola College.

Asha Sarath is an Indian dancer and actress. She received a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Malayalam movie Drishyam.


Asha Sarath was born in Perumbavoor as the daughter of V.S.Krishnan Kutty Nair & renowned classical dancer Kalamandalam Sumathy. She has two brothers, Balagopal and Late Venugopal.


Asha is married to Sarath. They have two daughters Uthara and Keerthana. They are settled in Dubai.


She was trained by her mother in Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi. She bagged the top prize at an all-India dance fete in Benares in 1992. Film offers poured in, but chose to act in a few serials and telefilms, before she got married and shifted to Dubai.


She acted in a telefilm Nizhalum Nilavum Parayunnathu, which won her the State television award for the second best actress and fetched her the role of Jayanthi in the serial Kumkumapoovu. In 2013, she played a police officer in the film Drishyam which was well received and became her first commercial hit.She has acted in few advertisements.

An entrepreneur, supermodel and actress, Dipannita Sharma was born on 2 November 1976 in Assam. In Miss India 1998 competition, Dipannita was among the final five contestants. In the same contest, she was also Miss Photogenic. Dipannita's father was a doctor in Oil India Limited Hospital in Assam. Till ninth standard, Dipannita studied in the Holy Child School, Guwahati. The later school education she completed from St. Mary's school in Naharkatia.

Dipannita acted on small screen in serial named 'Life Nahi Hai Laddoo'. In 2002, she made her debut in Hindi cinema with '16 December'. She got nominated for Best Female Debut Award by Zee and Screen awards.

The 36-years old actress was also seen in other Bollywood movies, such as 'Dil Vil Pyar Vyar', 'Koi Aap Sa', 'My Brother Nikhil', 'Asambhav', 'Jodi Breakers' and 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl'.

The stunning Dipannita acted in various television shows, such as 'Khatron Ke Khiladi - Fear Factor' on Colors channel, 'Har Dil Jo Love Karega' on Zoom TV, 'MTV making the cut' on MTV India, 'Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week' on STAR World and 'Piya Kay Ghar Jana Hai'.

Dipannita Sharma exchanged marriage vows with Dilsher Singh Atwal, a Delhi-based businessman and presently resides in Mumbai.

Manoj K. Bharathi (born September 11, 1976 as Manoj Bharathiraja) is a Tamil film actor. He has starred in several films, and is most noted as the son of director Bharathiraja.

Before becoming an actor in the Tamil film industry, Manoj worked as an assistant director. He did a course in Theatre arts at the University of South Florida.

He made his acting debut in the 1999 Tamil film Taj Mahal, directed by his father himself alongside Riya Sen, who made her debut as well. Subsequently Manoj appeared in films like Samuthiram alongside Sarath Kumar and Murali[disambiguation needed and Kadal Pookkal, directed by his father, sharing screen space with Murali once again. The films, though became box office failures, received much critical acclaim, especially the latter, for which Bharathiraja was awarded the National Film Award for Best Screenplay. He then enacted the lead role in Saran's Alli Arjuna alongside Richa Pallod, before starring in low budget productions, Varushamellam Vasantham and Pallavan, which all failed to achieve commercial success. Later, he starred in Sathyaraj's Maha Nadigan in a cameo role and did a negative role in the Telugu film Lemon.

He worked as an assistant to his father in films like Bommalattam and noted filmmaker Mani Ratnam in Bombay. From 2008 til 2010, he worked as an assistant to director S. Shankar in his forthcoming magnum opus Enthiran. Since 2007 it has been reported that Manoj was set to remake his father's Sigappu Rojakkal, but the film still remains in pre-production. In 2012, his father signed him up to replace Ameer in his production, Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum, as antagonist,thus marking a return to films after a seven year sabbatical.

Vivek Oberoi (born 3 September 1976) is an Indian actor. He made his film debut with Ram Gopal Varma's film Company. His performance in the film earned him Filmfare Awards for Best Male Debut and Best Supporting Actor. He has acted in several hit films which includes Saathiya, Masti and Yuva. He also starred in Ram Gopal Varma's critically acclaimed film Rakht Charitra.

Born to a Tamil mother and a Punjabi father Suresh Oberoi, a vetran bit-role actor in the Indian Film Industry , Vivek studied in the Mayo College, Ajmer. Thereafter, he attended Mithibai College, Juhu. At an actors' workshop in London he was spotted by the director of New York University who took Vivek off to New York, where he completed his Masters Degree in film acting. Vivek also worked as a script writer in India.

Oberoi made his debut with Ram Gopal Varma's film Company.He received Filmfare Awards for Best Debut as well as Best Supporting Actor. He then starred in the action films, Road and Dum. In Dum, he played the role of a man trying to become a part of Indian police but faces many troubles with a police inspector.

Next, he starred in Saathiya (2002) directed by Shaad Ali. The film was a big hit at the box office and earned him a Filmfare nomination in the Best Actor category. He starred in a comedy Masti (2004). In 2004, he also starred in Yuva . In 2005 he acted the title character in the film Kisna: The Warrior Poet.

In 2006, he appeared in Omkara, an adaptation of Shakespeare's play Othello. He played the character of Kesu, based on the character Michael Cassio in the original play. After seeing Oberoi's performance, Gulzar congratulated him.In 2007, he acted as the gangster Maya Dolas in the multi-starrer, Shootout at Lokhandwala, In 2008, Oberoi starred in Mission Istanbul, which was directed by Apoorva Lakhia and produced by Ekta Kapoor. He performed to the song Apun Ke Saath, produced for the film by Vikas Kohli, at the 2008 International Indian Film Academy Awards. Vivek Oberoi with Suriya and Priyamani in the press meet Rakta CharitraIn 2009 he co-starred in Kurbaan. He also asked forgiveness from Salman Khan due to the Aishwarya Rai incident.

In 2010, he appeared in Prince, which failed to receive a good response from the audience despite initial box office success. In the same year, he appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakht Charitra. Here he played the role of a south India politician Paritala Ravi.

Oberoi is slated to play the lead role in the film, Bloody Paki, that will be directed by Shaad Ali and Shiva and produced by Mani Ratnam. Vivek Oberoi's film 'Kismat Love Paisa Dilli', which released in October 2012, failed to impress the audience and was a box office failure. Vivek produced a film named "Watch Indian Circus" in 2011.The film got featured in 16th Busan Film festival which had thousands of people as the audience, in the age group of 16–40 years who voted the Film as the Best and made it win the Audience Choice Award for Best Film from 3000 films worldwide and amongst 380 films screened.In 16 years of the History of Busan, this is the First Indian Film to win this acclaimed and prestigious award. The Film has already received rave reviews from International Critics and reporters from Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Screen International.

Poonam Jhawer is a model, singer and actress. She was born in a Marwari Maheshwari family on 14th August 1976 in Mumbai. She hails from a business class family. Famous poetess and writer Poojashree is her mother. Poonam did her education in Mumbai.

Poonam began her career journey as a fashion model. She did modeling assignments for many brands like Paneri Sarees, Dove and Killer Jeans etc. She has also appeared on Debonair Magazine's cover in 1995.

Poonam made her debut in Hindi films with the super hit film 'Mohra' starring Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon. Poonam has essayed a role of Suniel Shetty's wife in the film. She later worked in many South Indian films.

Poonam produced the film 'Aanch' in 2003 starring Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal. The film loved by the niche audience in northern India. She was also featured in Bappi Lahiri's movie 'Deewana Hoon Main Tera'. She was next seen in 'B & W: The Black and White Fact'. Later she was featured in '2G Radia -Tion' a film based on a real life 2G spectrum scam. Poonam has played the key role in the film. She was also seen in 'Muthbhed' and some regional Marathi and south Indian films. Recently she played a key role in Akshay Kumar's 'Oh My God' also starring Paresh Rawal and Mahesh Manjrekar.

Besides acting, Poonam is a very good singer. She has launched her 3 music albums. She is also an activist and works with many women's groups and NGO. Recently she openly supported Anna Hazare during his hunger strike for Jan Lokpal Bill.

Sangita is an Indian actress, who has worked in Tamil and Malayalam film industries, predominantly in the 1990s.  The actress is best known for her role as Shyamala in Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala, which was written and directed by Sreenivasan. She is also well known for her role of Nirmala Mary in actor Vijay's breakthrough film Poove Unakkaga (1996).  She started her career as a child artiste in the movie Snehikkan Oru Pennu, a Malayalam movie released in 1978. Her debut film as a child artist in Tamil was En Rathathin Rathame, which is the Tamil remake of Hindi movie Mr. India. The first film she acted as a heroine was Ellame En Rasathan in 1995.

Personal life

She is born as the youngest among four children, to Malayali parents, settled at Chennai. Her father, Madhavan Nair is from Kottakkal, Malappuram and mother, Padma is from Kuzhalmannam, Palakkad. Her father migrated to Chennai for fruit business and the family settled there. She had her primary education from Sri Gujarati Vid Matriculation School, Chennai.  She has two sisters, Mallika and Raji and a brother, Nitheesh.  Her brother portrayed a supporting role in her unreleased film, Punniyavathi.
She married cinematographer Saravanan in 2003 and retired from acting after marriage. She assisted her husband when he directed his first film, Silambattam starring Silambarasan, Sana Khan and Sneha.  They have a daughter, Sai Tejaswithi.

Awards

1998 Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress - Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala *1998 [Nominated - Filmfare Award for best actress] -Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala *1998 [Nominated - Asianet Film award for best actress] - Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala *1998 - [Cinema Express Award for best actress] -Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala

Bhavatharani is an Indian Tamil singer and music director. She is the daughter of film composer Ilaiyaraaja and her brothers are the noted film composers Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja.

She has mostly sung songs under her father and her brothers' direction. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2001 for her rendition of the song "Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu" from the film Bharathi, composed by her father Ilaiyaraaja.

Bhavatharini made her debut as a singer in Raasaiya. The song was a super hit. From then onwards, she sings in albums composed by her dad and brothers. She had also lent her voice in songs composed by Deva & Sirpy.

In 2001, she bagged the National Award for the song Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu in the movie Bharathi (music director - Ilaiyaraaja).

She turned music director for the 2002 film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi, starring Shobhana. She then forayed into the Telugu film industry, too, with Avunaa. She has also composed music for Phir Milenge directed by Revathi again starring Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan. In June 2012 she was roped in to score the tunes for Vellachi, a village-based subject.

Tota Roy Chowdhury is a Bengali, Indian male actor and martial artist of TV and films. An alumnus of Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong; he was brought up in strict discipline by the Irish-Catholic brothers. He represented his school in football, basketball and athletics. In his final year, he won the schools Best Athlete shield. He graduated from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata. In his 2nd year in college, he made up his mind to join the Indian Army and was preparing for the CDS exams when fate intervened and he was asked by the prominent director Prabhat Roy to play a small role in his film. That one film brought other offers and soon he decided to become a professional actor. He started off by playing minor negative characters who got beaten to pulp, by the hero, in Bengali potboilers. After a while he was so fed up of being typecast that he left movies entirely and concentrated on television. It is here that he first tasted success. He was spotted in back-to-back serials playing very different roles by the national award winning director Rituparno Ghosh and cast opposite Nandita Das in his film Shubho Mahurat. In spite of the presence of such veteran artistes, such as Raakhee, Sharmila Tagore and Nandita Das in the film, Tota made his mark. He was cast again opposite Aishwarya Rai in Rituparno's Tagore adaptation, Chokher Bali. It was his breakthrough performance, which was hailed by both the critics and the cinegoers. He won several awards, including the prestigious BFJA Award for the Best Actor.

Suraj Venjaramood (Malayalam: സുരാജ് വെഞ്ഞാറമൂട്; born 30 June 1976) is a National Award winning Indian film actor and impressionist (mimic) who has starred in over 100 Malayalam films.He mainly plays comedy roles, though he has played some character roles as well. He is a three-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Comedy Artist. In 2014, Suraj received the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the Malayalam film Perariyathavar.

Venjaramood Vasudevan Nair Suraj is born as the youngest son among three children of Venjaramood Vasudevan Nair, a retired soldier with the Indian Army and Vilasini, a housewife. He was called by his father, mother and relatives by the name "Kuttappan". His elder brother V. V. Saji is currently serving in the Indian Army. His elder sister Sujatha is married and settled in Thiruvananthapuram. Suraj also wanted to serve the Army after completing his Secondary School Leaving Certificate, but had to give up as he broke his arm by falling from a bicycle. He had his primary education from K.V.M.L.P.S, Venjaramoodu. He completed his Mechanical course from Attingal Government ITI and turned to mimicry acting soon after that. His breakthrough came when he acted in Jagapoka, a comedy program which was broadcast on Kairali TV.

In 2005, Suraj married Supriya at Vaikuntam Auditorium, near Padmanabhaswamy Temple. They have three children: Kashinathan, Vasudev and Hridya. His son, Kashinathan, has acted in the films Annan Thambi and Teja Bhai & Family.
Suraj started his career as a stand-up comedian. His mimicry shows were a success with the audience. He first acted in a film named Jagapoga which was a spoof of Malayalam movies.He played the role of Pachan as well as Dadasahib in this film. He is generally regarded for his artificial mockery of the Thiruvananthapuram accent for which he is largely criticised. So far Suraj has acted in more than 200 films and have played the lead character in the films Duplicate and Thaskara Lahala. He is known for acting in the films Arabikatha, Ivar Vivahitharayal, Annan Thambi, Veruthe Oru Bharya, LollyPop, Gulumal: The Escape, Sakudumbam Shyamala, Adaminte Makan Abu and Perariyathavar.

He won the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 61st National Film Awards for the film Perariyathavar, directed by Dr. Biju. The story of the film revolved around a father and son working as Municipality workers and the harsh life they face. Noted filmmaker and jury chairman Saeed Mirza, while announcing Suraj's award in a press meet, said: "Suraj has played a municipal sweeper  but it is an incredibly dignified performance. He excels in comedy but in this film Suraj has brilliantly played a reticent character. I would not have been able to sleep had his name not been in the list of awardees.