Keerthy Suresh
Keerthy Suresh (born 17 October 1992) is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for portraying actress Savitri in the Telugu film "Mahanati" (2018). She has also received three SIIMA Awards, one Filmfare Award South, and two Zee Cine Awards Telugu among others for her performance in various films. Keerthy is the daughter of Malayalam film producer G. Suresh Kumar and actress Menaka. Keerthy began her career as a child actress in the early 2000s and returned to films after studying fashion design. She  had her first lead role in the 2013 Malayalam film "Geethaanjali". She went on to star in successful films such as "Ring Master" (2014), "Idhu Enna Maayam" (2015), "Nenu Sailaja" (2016), "Remo" (2016), "Bairavaa" (2017), "Nenu Local" (2017), "Thaana Serndha Kootam" (2018), "Mahanati" (2018) and "Sarkar" (2018). Early and personal life. Keerthy was born on 17 October 1992 in Chennai (then called as Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Her father G. Suresh Kumar is a filmmaker of Malayali descent, while her mother Menaka is an actress of Tamil origin. She has an elder sister Revathy Suresh. Until class four, Keerthy did  her schooling in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She then studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram before coming back to Chennai to join the Pearl Academy, where she completed her degree in fashion design. She also spent time on an exchange program in Scotland for four months, before completing a two-month internship in London. Despite making a career in acting, she has stated that she was also "seriously considering a career in designing". Keerthy also plays the violin. Career. Early career and debut in lead role (2000–2002; 2013–2014). In the early 2000s, Keerthy worked as a child actress in a few  of her father's productions, such as "Pilots" (2000), "Achaneyanenikkishtam" (2001) and "Kuberan" (2002) and some television serials. 11 years after "Kuberan", she made her debut as a lead actress in Priyadarshan's horror film "Geethaanjali", in which she had a dual role. She was still studying during that time and shot for "Geethanjali" during her semester break. Reviews on the film and her performance were mixed, with Sify writing that she "does put in some effort but makes only a limited impression in a double role", while Rediff wrote that she "has got a plum role but whether she  impresses with her acting prowess is another matter". In 2014, Keerthy had her next release "Ring Master", directed by Rafi of Rafi Mecartin duo, in which she shared screen space with Dileep. She played a blind girl, which she said was much more challenging than her double role in "Geethanjali". The film was a commercial success, being termed a "super hit" by Sify. Debut in Tamil and Telugu cinema (2015–2017). In 2015, Keerthy accepted her first projects outside of Malayalam and signed on to appear in several Tamil film projects simultaneously. Her first film release was A. L. Vijay's  romantic comedy "Idhu Enna Maayam" (2015), opposite Vikram Prabhu, though the film did not perform well at the box office. Her busy schedule throughout 2015 meant that she had to opt out of films which she had already started working on, including Krishna's "Maane Thaene Paeye" and Deekay's "Kavalai Vendam", in order to accommodate bigger projects. She consequently worked on two films with Sivakarthikeyan in quick succession, "Rajini Murugan" and "Remo", while also playing the lead role in Prabhu Solomon's "Thodari", alongside Dhanush. Her Telugu debut was planned to be "Ainaa Ishtam Nuvvu." However, the film is  delayed since 2015, with reports of release after September 2020 under a new title "Janakitho Nenu." Subsequently, the debut was the 2016 film Nenu Sailaja with actor Ram Pothineni. In January 2017, Keerthy appeared in "Bairavaa", opposite actor Vijay and directed by Bharathan. She also appeared in Tamil film "Paambhu Sattai" and Telugu film "Nenu Local" in 2017. Section::::"Mahanati" and widespread success (2018–present). Her first release in 2018, was "Agnyaathavaasi" in Telugu. Her first Tamil film in 2018 was "Thaana Serndha Kootam", in which she played opposite Suriya, for the very first time. The film opened to positive reviews  and became a hit. She also acted in Nag Ashwin-directed epic "Mahanati" where she portrayed the late southern actress Savitri and for which her performance has received critical acclaim. Her performance in the film featured in the list of "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade" by "Film Companion". In late 2018, she appeared in three consecutive commercial films, "Saamy 2" opposite Vikram directed by Hari, "Sandakozhi 2" opposite Vishal directed by N. Lingusamy and "Sarkar" opposite Vijay, directed by AR Murugadoss. In mid-2019, she made a cameo appearance in the Nagarjuna starrer "Manmadhudu 2", which was directed by Rahul  Ravindran. In 2020, she appeared in the thriller film "Penguin", which released on Amazon Prime due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in the drama film "Miss India" which released on Netflix. In 2021, Keerthy starred in the Telugu language film "Rang De" opposite Nithiin. , she has signed on to appear in multiple projects such as a Malayalam film "" alongside Mohanlal and directed by Priyadarshan, and the Telugu film "Good Luck Sakhi". She has also announced that she is one of the female leads in Rajinikanth’s "Annaatthe" directed by Siva. In August 2020 she signed on to appear alongside director  Selvaraghavan in "Saani Kaayidham", which marks his acting debut. In January 2021, she started filming for Parasuram directorial "Sarkaru Vaari Paata", alongside Mahesh Babu. Keerthy will also appear opposite Tovino Thomas in the Malayalam film "Vaashi". She signed a film named "Dasara" starring alongside Nani.