Kausalya (actress)
Nandini (born Kavitha on 30 December 1979), commonly known as Kausalya, is an Indian actress and model, who has starred mainly in South Indian cinema. She is known as Nandini in Malayalam film Industry. After starting her career as a lead heroine, she has since gone on to portray supporting roles. Career. Nandini was pursuing a modelling career, before she debuted in the 1996 Malayalam film "April 19" by Balachandra Menon. The following year, she appeared in her first Tamil film "Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga" (1997) with Murali and went on to star in several successful films in Tamil  like "Nerukku Ner" (1997), "Priyamudan" (1998), "Sollamale" (1998), "Pooveli" (1998), "Vaanathaippola" (2000) and "Kutty" (2001). She went on to appear in many Malayalam films including "Karumadikkuttan" (2001), "Sundara Purushan" (2001), "Shivam" (2002), "Udayam" (2004), "Vajram" (2004), "Maanikyan" (2004), "Sooryan" (2007) and more. She had starred in over 30 films in Tamil and Malayalam, while securing a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for her performance in "Pooveli". She mostly acted in saree-clad and conservative roles. By the mid-2000s, she turned character artiste and went on to portray supporting roles in films such as "Thirumalai" (2003) and "Santosh Subramaniam" (2008 ) and ventured into television with the series "Manaivi" which aired 436 episodes on Sun TV. In 2004, she attempted to make a comeback as a lead actress but unfortunately several of her projects became delayed. Films such as Thiagarajan's "Police" which starred her alongside Prashanth, "Manadhil" with Karthik, "Vendumadi Nee Enakku" and "Rosappoo Chinna Rosappoo" with Sathyaraj, were readied but then stalled in quick succession. Kausalya is returning to the Tamil industry after 6 years with the action film, "Poojai" (2014). Personal life. Kausalya was born in Bangalore, Karnataka state. Her father Shivashankar Siddalingappa, a Bangalorean, worked as a  depot manager at Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. Her mother is half Marathi and half Kannada, and was born and brought up in Sri Lanka. Her grandmother was from Sri Lanka. Kausalya remains unmarried.