Nayanthara, born as Diana Mariam Kurian, is an Indian and Tamil actress known for movies such as “Avya,” “Billa” and “Lakshmi.” Nayanthara began her performing career as a model, finishing first runner up Best Model Kerala in the 2003 event held by Thrissuer Advertising Club. However, her big break came after director Sathvan Anthikkad discovered her and gave Nayanthara the lead female role opposite Jayaram on the Malayalam flick “Manassinakkare” in 2003. For her portrayal of Gauri in the film, Nayanthara won the “Best Female New Face of the Year” Asianet Award. She then landed two Malayalam films in 2004 – “Vismayathumbathu” as Reetha Mathews and “Natturajavu” as Katrina.

In 2005, Nayanthara made her Tamil film debut in the movie “Avya,” playing opposite Sarath Kumar. That same year, she starred in the hit thriller flick “Chandramukhi,” which run for more than 115 weeks in theaters and catapulted Nayanthara into one of the most popular Tamil actresses in recent history. Nayanthara then joined the cast of another Tamil movie “Ghajini,” wherein she played a supporting role in the box-office hit film. Also in 2005, Nayanthara appeared in the Malayalam films “Thaskara Veeran” and “Rappakal.” She also made a cameo in the “Kodambakkam Area” song, which was featured on the 2005 Tamil movie “Sivakasi.”

2006 was the year Nayanthara made her Telugu movie debut in the film “Lakshmi,” which she followed with another Telugu film entitled “Boss.” That same year, Nayanthara appeared in several Tamil films including “Kavanin Kadhali,” “Vallavan,” “Thalaimagan,” and “E.”

After working on the 2007 Telugu films “Yogi,” “Dubai Seenu,” and “Tulasi,” as well as making an appearance in the “Balleilakka” song number in the movie “Sivaji: The Boss,” Nayanthara went back to her Kollywood roots. Nayanthara starred in the Tamil gangster movie “Billa” in 2007 and the highly successful “Yaaradi Nee Mohini” in 2008, which both earned her the Vijay Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award for Favourite Heroine for two consecutive years. Nayanthara’s other releases in 2008 include the Tamil flicks “Kuselan,” “Sathyam,” and “Aegan.”

Nayanthara continued to act in movies in 2009, starting with the Tamil movie “Villu” and the Telugu film “Anjanevulu.” She ended the year with a nomination for another Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine for her work in the Tamil action-thriller movie “Aadhavan.” However, it was in 2010 that Nayanthara proved her star power by starring in five box-office hit movies under 4 different Southern languages – “Simha” and “Adurs” in Telugu, “Boss Engira Bhaskaran” in Tamil and “Bodyguard” in Malayalam, which won her the Asianet Award for Best Actress for her role as Ammu Ashokan. Her 2010 movie “Super” was Nayanthara’s movie debut in the Kannada film industry.

Also in 2010, Nayanthara landed the role of Elektra Alexander in the critically acclaimed movie “Elektra.” For her performance on the Greek play-inspired movie, Nayanthara received positive reviews when “Elektra” joined the International Film Festival of India and the Dubai International Film Festival.