Karpaga is an actress who made her debut in a

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 ...

movie called ''Paal''. She is the first trans person ever in India to perform a leading role in a mainstream movie.

Personal life

Karpaga was born in a middle-class family of

Erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the ...

in western

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, an only child, and left home at 17 for

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Karpaga worked at a beauty parlour as a beautician after finishing schooling. After returning to her family, five years later, her family was shattered but eventually accepted her.

Paal

Historically, transgender people have been shown in a poor light in Indian movies.kollywoodtoday.com
18 May 2008, "A beautiful story titled Paal" Karpaga acts as an intellectual woman who has difficulty in revealing her identity to her lover. The film stresses the need for families to accept transgender people. timesofindia.com
8 July 2008, "Transgender to play lead in Tamil film"

References

External links

timesofinda.indiatimes.com, 8 July 2008, "Transgender to play lead in Tamil film"bharatstudent.com, "Transgender becomes a hero!!!"
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people LGBT Hindus Indian LGBT actors Indian LGBT rights activists Indian film actresses Tamil actresses Transgender actresses Indian transgender people People from Erode district Actresses from Tamil Nadu {{india-actor-stub