Amala Akkineni (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Mukherjee) is an Indian actress,

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...

dancer, and

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

activist. She has predominantly worked in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

films, in addition to

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

, and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 1992 and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film ''

Ulladakkam ''Ulladakkam'' () is 1991 Indian Malayalam-language psychological thriller film directed by Kamal and written by P. Balachandran from a story by Cheriyan Kalpakavadi. It stars Mohanlal, Shobana and Amala. The film, produced by Suresh Balaje f ...

'' and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film ''

Life Is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employ ...

''. Amala is the co-founder of

Blue Cross of Hyderabad The Blue Cross of Hyderabad is an animal welfare Society founded in 1992 by Indian film actors Nagarjuna, Amala Akkineni and animal friendly citizens. Blue Cross of Hyderabad was later registered as a society in 1993 and is recognized by Animal W ...

, a non-government organisation (NGO) in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...

, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.

Early life

Amala was born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(present-day Kolkata) to a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

officer and an Irish mother. Their family soon shifted to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(present-day Chennai) where she was brought up. She has a brother. Amala holds a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree in

from

Kalakshetra Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in ...

college of fine arts,

now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. She gave many live performances worldwide. She is fluent in English, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.

Personal life

Amala married Telugu actor

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

on 11 June 1992 and the couple has a son, actor

Akhil Akkineni Akhil Akkineni (born 8 April 1994) is an American actor of Indian descent who works in Telugu films. Born into the Akkineni family, he is the son of actors Nagarjuna and Amala. In his film career, Akkineni has earned several accolades such as ...

born in 1994. She is the step-mother of actor

Naga Chaitanya Akkineni Naga Chaitanya (born 23 November 1986) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut with ''Josh'' (2009) and his breakthrough came with Gautham Vasudev Menon-directed ''Ye Maaya Chesave'' (2010). He ...

. They currently live in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Career

She was persuaded to join films by

T. Rajendar Thesingu Rajendar (born 9 May 1960), also known as Vijaya T. Rajendar or T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker, musician, cinematographer and distributor who works primarily in Tamil film industry. He is also a politician in Chennai, Tamil Nadu ...

, who visited her home with his wife Usha and convinced her mother to let her act in the film, which would be a classical film featuring her Bharatanatyam dancing. That film was ''

Mythili Ennai Kaathali ''Mythili Ennai Kaathali'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language film written, directed and scored by T. Rajendar. The film stars Rajendar, Srividya and Amala in her feature debut. It was released on 4 February 1986. Plot Manikkam loves Mythi ...

'' (1986) which was a huge box office hit. Winning overnight fame, she charmed cinegoers in a flurry of fifty films, including a number of

box office hits. She acted with her future husband Akkineni Nagarjuna in hits such as Nirnayam and Siva. She received

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Malayalam films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of release of ...

for the film ''

'' (1991). She quit acting in 1992 following her marriage to Nagarjuna. After a hiatus of 20 years she made a comeback in 2012 with the Telugu film ''

Life is Beautiful ''Life Is Beautiful'' ( it, La vita è bella, ) is a 1997 Italian comedy drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employ ...

''. She received a CineMAA Award for Best Outstanding Actress and Telugu category Filmfare Award for best supporting actress in 2013 for her portrayal. She returned to

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...

with

C/O Saira Banu ''C/O Saira Banu'' is a 2017 Indian Malayalam legal drama film directed by Antony Sony. It stars Manju Warrier, Amala Akkineni and Shane Nigam in lead roles. The film marks the return of Amala to Malayalam cinema after a 25-year hiatus. It was r ...

after a gap of 25 years, since ''Ulladakkam''.

Filmography

Tamil

Telugu

Hindi

Kannada

Malayalam

Television

Awards and honours

Film awards

Social welfare awards

* 2012: Jeev Daya Purashkaar from

Animal Welfare Board of India The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), headquartered at Ballabhgarh in Haryana state, is a statutory advisory body advising the Government of India's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying(Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy ...

* 2017: Nari Shakti Award from Ministry of Women and Child Development

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akkineni, Amala 1968 births Living people Actresses in Tamil cinema 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Indian film actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Bengali actresses Indian people of Irish descent Indian women activists Kalakshetra Foundation alumni Activists from West Bengal Actresses from Kolkata 21st-century Indian actresses Indian television actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Telugu television Actresses in Tamil television Actresses of European descent in Indian films Actresses of European descent in Bollywood films Filmfare Awards South winners CineMAA Awards winners