Ayilya Gopalakrishnan , better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Ananya, is an Indian actress who appears in

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 wa ...

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, na ...

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 ...

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 ...

films. She is also a singer and an

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

. She made her acting debut in the Malayalam film ''

Positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posi ...

'' (2008) and also debuted the following year in the Tamil film ''

Naadodigal ''Naadodigal'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani and produced by S. Michael Rayappan under banner of Global Infotainment. The film stars Sasikumar along with Vijay Vasanth and Bharani, w ...

'', which turned out to be a critical and commercial success. She received the

Kerala State Television Award for Best Actress The Kerala State Television Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Television Awards of India to an actress for the best performance in a leading role in a Malayalam telefilm or serial. Until 1997, the awards w ...

in 2012 for the telefilm ''Doore'' and the

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil The Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The award was introduced and first given at the 50th South Filmfare Awards in 2003, with ...

for ''

Engaeyum Eppothum ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy drama road film written and directed by M. Saravanan in his Tamil debut, he had earlier directed the Telugu film ''Ganesh'' (2009). Starring Jai, Sharwanand, Anjali an ...

'' in 2011.

Early life

Ananya was born as Ayilya to Malayali parents Gopalakrishnan Nair, a noted film producer, and Praseetha in Perumbavoor,

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

. She has one younger brother Arjun. Her name was taken from her birth star Aslesha, called ''Ayilyam'' in

and

. She appeared as a child artist in one of her father's productions (executive producer), ''Pai Brothers'' (1995). Ananya pursued a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in Communicative English at

St. Xavier's College for Women, Aluva St. Xavier's College for Women, Aluva, is a women's degree college located in Aluva, Kerala. It was established in the year 1964. The college is affiliated with Mahatma Gandhi University. This college offers courses in arts, commerce and scien ...

. During her childhood, she was an

and won the State Championship. While representing her college in a television

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

"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 ''

''.

Film career

Her screenname changed to Ananya, when she was working in her debut Tamil film ''

''. The film was a high commercial success, and Ananya rose to fame, with her performance in the film being appreciated. She went on to reprise the same role in its Malayalam remake ''

Ithu Nammude Katha ''Ithu Nammude Katha'' () is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by Rajesh Kannankara, who debuts with this film. It stars Asif Ali, Nishan, Abhishek, Vineeth Kumar, Ananya, Amala Paul and Nimisha in the lead roles. The ...

''. The film ''

Shikkar ''Shikkar'' () is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language mystery-thriller film directed by M. Padmakumar and written by S. Suresh Babu which was produced by Sreeraj Cinema. The film stars Mohanlal in lead role along with Kalabhavan Mani, Samuthira ...

'' alongside

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

, gave her a big break in Malayalam. She did some thrilling scenes in the climax of the movie Shikkar that impressed Mohanlal, which made him call her the "

Vijayashanti Vijayashanti (born 24 June 1966) is an Indian actress, producer and politician. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has acted in 187 feature films in a variety of roles in various languages predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, in addition to Hi ...

" of Malayalam. She also played a supporting role in ''

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

'', which saw her sharing screen space with Mohanlal and

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

. In 2011, Ananya played one of the female lead roles in ''

'', which received rave reviews and became a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

. In 2014, she appeared in ''

Pulivaal ''Pulivaal'' () is a 2014 Tamil-language thriller film directed by G. Marimuthu who earlier directed '' Kannum Kannum'', and produced by Sarath Kumar and Listin Stephen. The film stars Vimal, Prasanna, Oviya, Ananya, and Ineya. The film is a r ...

'', her first Tamil release after three years. As of 2018 she has ''Sigappu Rojakkal 2'' in Tamil, ''Intintaa Annamayya'' in Telugu, Ameya in Malayalam delayed for release. She is currently gearing up for the release of her Malayalam movie Bhramam.

Awards

;Kerala State Television Awards *2012 –

: ''Doore'' ;

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 ...

*2011 – Best Supporting Actress – Tamil: ''

'' ;

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artis ...

*2010 – Best Supporting Actress : '' Seniors'' & '' Doctor Love'' ;

Vijay Awards The Vijay Awards are presented by the Tamil television channel STAR Vijay to honour excellence in Tamil cinema. It has been given annually since 2006, with the latest—the 10th edition—of the award-giving ceremony having been held in ...

*2009 – Best Debut Actress: ''

'' *2011 – Nominated, Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actress: ''

Filmography

Discography

Television

References

External links

* {{authority control 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Indian film actresses Actresses from Kochi Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam television Indian television actresses Filmfare Awards South winners Child actresses in Malayalam cinema Indian child actresses Kerala State Television Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people)