Nithya Menen

Nalini Sukumaran Nithya, known professionally as Nithya Menen, is an Indian actress and singer who works predominantly in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. She has also acted in a few Kannada films. Having appeared in over 59 films, she is noted for her strong portrayals. Menen is a recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South and two Nandi Awards. Menen started her career as a child artist, in the French-Indian English film, Hanuman (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu's character. She made her screen debut with the Kannada film 7 O' Clock (2006). The 2011 romance film Ala Modalaindi proved to be her breakthrough and won her Nandi Award for Best Actress. Menen received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her portrayal in Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde (2013). Further success in Telugu films came with Ishq (2012), Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju (2015), which won her the Filmfare Critics Best Actress – Telugu, Rudhramadevi (2015), Janatha Garage (2016), Awe (2018) and Bheemla Nayak (2022). Menen established herself as a leading South Indian actress with the Tamil romantic film O Kadhal Kanmani (2015). She went on to appear in such commercially successful films — the Malayalam films Ustad Hotel (2012), Bangalore Days (2014) and 100 Days of Love (2015), and the Tamil films Kanchana 2 (2015), 24 (2016), Mersal (2017),Thiruchitrambalam (2022) and Thalaivan Thalaivii(2025). Mersal earned her Filmfare Best Supporting Actress – Tamil, while Thiruchitrambalam earned her Filmfare Critics Best Actress – Tamil and National Film Award for Best Actress. Menen ventured into Hindi films with the science drama Mission Mangal (2019), which remains her highest-grossing release.