Gayatri Jayaraman is an Indian actress. She played the role of

Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conce ...

Adishakti Mahadevi ( sa, महादेवी, ), also referred to as Adi Parashakti, Adi Shakti, and Abhaya Shakti, is the supreme goddess in the Shaktism sect of Hinduism. According to this tradition, all Hindu goddesses are considered to be manifesta ...

Shree Ganesh ''Shree Ganesh'' is an Indian Hindi-language mythological television series that aired on Sony Entertainment Television from 1 October 2000 and ended on 29 June 2003. Directed by Dheeraj Kumar, it follows the story of Hindu God Ganesha portraye ...

& has appeared predominantly 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, nativ ...

, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam language films.

Early life

Gayatri Jayaraman was educated at Adarsh Vidyalaya and the Church Park in Chennai. She was raised in Shahabad near

Gulbarga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kalaburagi district and is the largest city in the region of North Karnataka (Kalyana-Karnataka). Kalaburagi is 6 ...

until she was four years old, before her family headed 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 ...

. She spent a year in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

.Gayatri at first wished to pursue a career in medicine and despite gaining 94% in board exams, she did not get a medical seat, and hence began reading a B.Sc. in life science at IGNOU. Gayatri balanced her time between modelling and education and thus also went on to study physiotherapy at SRM College in Chennai. About her decision to simultaneously pursue qualifications she revealed that "the average life of an actress on screen is maximum four years" and that "she can always return to physiotherapy once my career as an actress is over". She took up her first modelling assignments for Nalli Silks, followed by Kumaran Silks, Pothys and Chennai Silks while also participating in the beauty pageants, winning the Miss Tamil Nadu title in October 1997 and Miss South India title in 1998. She entered the final stages of Femina Miss India 2000, after being selected among the 26 finalists from 8000 entries and made it through to the final 5, eventually finishing fourth. She has also been a video jockey on television, having appeared for Fanta "Ilamai Pudhumai" on Sun TV and "Telephone Manipol" on Vijay TV.

Career

Gayathri began her career as an actress with director

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

's tele-serial ''Azhukku Veshti'' and rejected offers from prominent directors such as Arjun before deciding to make her debut by featuring in Nagabharana's '' Neela''. ''Neela'', a Kannada film about a tribal singer with cancer. It was selected as one of the thirty-two Indian films to feature at the International Film Festival of India. Gayatri won a Cinema Express Award for her performance, with a critic describing it as a "matured performance gives an impression of her being an experienced actress". She made her Tamil film debut after being approached by producer KRG to feature in his '' Manadhai Thirudivittai'' opposite

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

. Gayatri, post-release, remarked that her role in the film was changed, with

Kausalya Kausalya () is the senior queen-consort of Kosala in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. She is the mother of Rama, the titular hero of the epic, and the senior wife of Dasharatha, who ruled Kosala from its capital of Ayodhya. In some later acco ...

playing the role that she had signed on to portray. The film became a commercial failure, although her appearance in the song "Manjakattu Mynaa" got her noticed. Her Telugu film debut was with Srikanth in ''

Aaduthu Paaduthu ''Aaduthu Paaduthu'' () is a 2002 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed by Devi Prasad. The film stars Srikanth, Sunil and Gayatri. The film was a box office success. It is a remake of the Malayalam film '' Ee Parakkum Thalika' ...

'', before she also went on to feature in a supporting role in '' Shree'' alongside

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numerou ...

, with Gayatri revealing that her role was chopped by the editors in post-production. She featured in another small role in '' Vaseegara'' alongside Vijay and Sneha, before going on to feature in a series of unsuccessful Kannada and Malayalam films. She retired from films after her marriage and is now a certified scuba diving instructor in the Andaman Islands and briefly returned to compere the

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

Cheer Leaders talent show on Vijay TV in 2009. She also notably, anchored the show ''Super Kudumbam'' on Sun TV in early 2013.

Personal life

In May 2007 she married Samit Sawhny, an Indian entrepreneur and author, in the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

in a small and private wedding function.

Filmography

Television

;Serials ;Shows ;Web Series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayaraman, Gayatri Indian film actresses Living people Indian beauty pageant winners Female models from Mumbai 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses from Mumbai Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Hindi television Year of birth missing (living people)