Lissy is an Indian actress, who has primarily appeared 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 was des ...

films. She made her cinematic debut in 1982 with '' Ithiri Neram Othiri Karyam''. Her notable roles include ''

Odaruthammava Aalariyam ''Odaruthammava Aalariyam'' () is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language screwball comedy film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Sreenivasan from a story by Priyadarshan. It is about a middle aged family man who is a womanizer and about three col ...

'' (1984), ''

Mutharamkunnu P.O. ''Mutharamkunnu P.O.'' is a 1985 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film directed by Sibi Malayil (in his directorial debut) from a screenplay by Sreenivasan based on a story by Jagadish. It stars Mukesh (actor), Mukesh, Lizy (actress), ...

'' (1985), '' Boeing Boeing'' (1985), ''

Thalavattom ''Thalavattam'' is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Priyadarshan, starring Mohanlal, M. G. Soman and Karthika. The film is very loosely based on the 1975 movie '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' which was an ...

'' (1986), '' Vikram'' (1986) and ''

Chithram ''Chithram'' () is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language screwball comedy film written and directed by Priyadarshan. The film was produced by P. K. R. Pillai under his production house Shirdi Sai Creations, and stars Mohanlal, Ranjini, Nedumudi Ve ...

'' (1988).

Early life

Lissy was born as the only child to Nellikaattil Pappachan (Varkey) and Aleyamma at Pazhanganad,

Pukkattupadi Pukkattupady is a suburb of the City of Kochi, in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India. It is in intersection of major bus route from Aluva Town via F.A.C.T and BPCL to Thrippunithura and Kolenchery via Kizhakkambalam and the routes from Perumba ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

in Kerala. Her parents got divorced when she was very young and she was brought up by her mother Aleyamma. Lissy did her studies at St. Teresa's School and College. She was a bright student and scored good marks during her schooling. She started her career at the age of 15 when she was studying for pre-university degree. She had to discontinue her studies to concentrate on her career.

Career

Her debut into films happened in the early '80s and in a short period of time, she became one of the top heroines of the time. Though Lissy had paired with almost all the top heroes of the eighties, it was along with

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 ...

and

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

, that she was able to create magic on screen. Even at the peak of her career, she acted as sister roles, the girl next door, and as the heroine's friend. Known for her stunning and mesmerizing looks, she was able to grab the hearts of viewers. Along with Malayalam films, Lissy also had appeared in several

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 ...

, and

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. Lissy is most remembered for her roles in

, Odaruthammava Alariyam,

and Boeing Boeing. As she stated in an interview with manam magazine she was introduced to Tamil films by

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

as his heroine in his home production, Vikram.

Personal life

She fell in love with the noted film director

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in Hi ...

, and married him on 13 December 1990. After marriage, Lissy gave up acting and adopted the name Lakshmi for religious reasons. After the birth of their son, Lissy converted to

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religion from

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Lissy filed for divorce on 1 December 2014 in a

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 ...

family court and was divorced on 1 September 2016, after 26 years of marriage.

Filmography

Malayalam

Telugu

Tamil

References

External links

*
Lizzy at MSI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lissy People from Ernakulam district Kerala State Film Award winners Former Roman Catholics Indian former Christians Converts to Hinduism from Christianity Indian film actresses Actresses from Kochi Actresses in Malayalam cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Child actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people St. Teresa's College alumni Converts to Hinduism Indian Hindus Year of birth missing (living people)