Laya (born 21 October 1981) is an Indian actress and

Kuchipudi Kuchipudi () ( Telugu: ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sa ...

dancer known for her work primarily in

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 ...

films, alongside a few

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

films. Laya first appeared as a child actor in ''

Bhadram Koduko Bhadram Koduko (Telugu: భద్రం కొడుకో) was a 1992 Telugu film. It is directed by Akkineni Kutumba Rao. Santhosh Reddy played the leadrole. Laya was starring in the cast. The story is based on the various problems faced by t ...

'' (1992) and later she started working as a lead actress with '' Swayamvaram'' (1999). She won two

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

in consecutive years for '' Manoharam'' (2000) and ''

Preminchu ''Preminchu'' () is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Boyina Subba Rao and produced by D. Rama Naidu. The film stars Laya and Sai Kiran with Roopa, Murali Mohan, and Lakshmi in supporting roles. The plot follows Meena (Laya ...

'' (2001).

Personal life

Laya was born on 21 October 1981 in a Telugu Bramhin family in

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. She attended Nirmala High School, Vijayawada. Her mother was a music teacher in Nirmala High School, Vijayawada and her father was a doctor. During her school days, she was a state state level

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. Later, she moved to

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 ...

and participated in multiple stage shows as a classical dancer, having performed in more than 50 stage shows. She has a bachelor's degree in Computer Applications. She married Dr. Sri Ganesh Gorty in 2006 and settled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The couple has a daughter, Sloka and a son, Vachan.

Filmography

Film

Television

*''Mega Bangaram Mee Kosam - 1'' on

Gemini TV Gemini TV is an Indian Telugu language general entertainment pay television channel. It was launched on 9 February 1995 by Gemini Group, owned by A. Manohar Prasad (grandson of L. V. Prasad), in association with Sun TV Network. In 1996-97, Sun ...

as a host *''Sambavi'' on

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * e.tv, a South African terrestrial television channel * Educational Television (Hong Kong), a television series * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television ap ...

*''

Padutha Theeyaga Padutha Theeyaga (transl: I will sing sweetly) is an Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language Reality television Singing, singing show that is aired on ETV (Telugu), ETV Telugu, a channel of ETV Network, a part of Ramoji Group. The program seeks t ...

'' on ETV as a host

Awards and nominations

;

* Special Jury Award - ''Swayamvaram'' (1999) *

- ''Manoharam'' (2000) *

'' (2001)

References

External links

* * Indian film actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Living people Nandi Award winners Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses from Vijayawada Indian child actresses 21st-century Indian actresses 20th-century Indian actresses Child actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Telugu television Telugu actresses 1981 births {{India-film-actor-stub