Amala Paul

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Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress and producer who works mainly in Tamil and Malayalam films and has also appeared in Telugu cinema. She became widely known through the Tamil film Mynaa (2010), and her honours include a Tamil Nadu State Film Award, a Filmfare Award South and two SIIMA Awards. In Telugu, her best-known films are Naayak and Iddarammayilatho, both released in 2013.

Early life

Amala Paul was born in Ernakulam, Kerala, to Paul Varghese and Annice Paul. Her brother, Abijith Paul, has also appeared in films. She went to Nirmala Higher Secondary School in Aluva and paused her studies to start working in films, later joining St. Teresa’s College in Kochi for a degree in English.

Her father was at first firmly opposed to an acting career, but gave way when her brother strongly supported her. She has pointed out that performing runs in the family: her mother was a singer, and her father acted in theatre at college.

Early career

Director Lal Jose gave her a supporting role in the Malayalam film Neelathamara (2009). She then turned to Tamil cinema, signing small-budget films including Vikadakavi and Veerasekaran (2010). Samy’s Sindhu Samaveli (2010) was controversial, and some critics condemned its storyline.

Her career changed with Prabhu Solomon’s romantic drama Mynaa (2010), in which she played the title role of a village girl. The film had drawn attention even before release and was a box-office success. It established her in the industry and won her the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress.

Rising profile in Tamil and Malayalam

After Mynaa she was billed as a new star and signed several major projects. In Vijay’s Deiva Thirumagal (2011), opposite Vikram, she played a school correspondent, Shwetha Rajendran, in a small but well-reviewed role. Her first Telugu film, Bejawada, followed at the end of 2011.

In 2012 she appeared in Lingusamy’s Vettai, a critical and commercial success. Three of her films opened over the Valentine’s Day weekend that year, including Balaji Mohan’s bilingual Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi, released in Telugu as Love Failure, in which she played a college student, Parvathi, opposite Siddharth; both versions were successful. She also made her first art-house film, Dr. Biju’s Akasathinte Niram, which competed at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Opposite Mohanlal in the Malayalam hit Run Baby Run she played a senior news editor.

Telugu successes

Her first commercial success in Telugu cinema came in 2013 with V. V. Vinayak‘s Naayak, opposite Ram Charan, one of the year’s biggest critical and commercial successes. She followed it with Puri Jagannadh‘s romantic comedy Iddarammayilatho, opposite Allu Arjun, in which reviewers felt she handled a naïve character well.

Awards and later films

She won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Malayalam twice, for Run Baby Run (2012) and Oru Indian Pranayakadha (2013). Her title role in the Malayalam film Mili (2015) earned her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Malayalam.

Her other successful films include:

• Thalaivaa (2013) and Velaiilla Pattadhari (2014)
• Hebbuli and Thiruttu Payale 2 (both 2017)
• Ratsasan (2018)
• The Goat Life (2024)

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.

Amala Paul: quick facts

• Born: 26 October 1991 in Ernakulam, Kerala (India Today)
• First film: The Malayalam film Neelathamara (2009) (Wikipedia)
• Telugu debut: Ram Gopal Varma’s Bejawada (2011) (Wikipedia)
• First Telugu hit: 2013, the year of Naayak and Iddarammayilatho; Wikipedia calls it her first commercial success in Telugu cinema (Wikipedia)
• Awards: Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for Mynaa (2010), a Filmfare Award South and two SIIMA Awards for Best Actress – Malayalam (Wikipedia)