Abhinaya (actress)

Abhinaya is an Indian actress and model who mainly works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films.^[1] She is both hearing and speech impaired.^[2][3] She made her acting debut in Naadodigal (2009) and then she has appeared in many Tamil and Telugu films.

Abhinaya
Abhinaya In 2025
Born	Abhinaya Anand Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2008–present
Spouse	Vegesana Karthik alias Sunny Varma (m. 16 April 2025)

Personal life

Abhinaya got engaged to her long-time boyfriend Vegesana Karthik on 9 March 2025 and married him on 16 April 2025 in Hyderabad.^[4][5]

Career

Abhinaya was spotted by director Samuthirakani from an ad agency's portfolio while he was on the lookout for a fresh face for his movie Nadodigal.^[6] The success of Naadodigal and critical acclaim for Abhinaya's performance led him to cast her in the Telugu remake Shambo Shiva Shambo, while she was signed to play the same role in its Kannada remake Hudugaru as well. She won two Filmfare Awards for her performances in Naadodigal and Shambo Shiva Shambo the following year. She was cast in an important role in Easan (2010) directed by Sasikumar. In 2011, A. R. Murugadoss signed her to play a supporting role alongside Suriya in the film 7aum Arivu.^[7]

In 2012, she had three Telugu releases. In Dammu and Dhamarukam she played the sister of Jr. NTR's and Nagarjuna's characters, respectively,^[8] while in Genius she played a Muslim character.^[9] That year she also got her first lead role in the Telugu film Chandrudu opposite Krishnudu^[10] but the film's release has been delayed. She was seen in minor supporting roles as part of an ensemble cast in the Telugu family drama Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013)^[9] and the Tamil action masala films Veeram (2014)^{[citation needed]} and Hari's Poojai.^[11] The Reporter, the first Malayalam film, Abhinaya had signed,^{[citation needed]} released after long delays in 2015. That year also saw her making her Bollywood debut in R. Balki's Shamitabh in a short role.^{[citation needed]}

She played a radio jockey in Vizhithiru (2017)^[12] and will be seen in Mela Thalam.^[9]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

List of Abhinaya's films and roles

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2008	Neninthe	Aditri	Telugu	Telugu debut in a Minor role
	King	Sravani's friend
	Sangamam	Samskruthi's friend
2009	Naadodigal	Pavithra Natraj	Tamil	Won -Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut - South Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Tamil Nominated, Vijay Award for Best Debut Actress
2010	Aayirathil Oruvan	Cholan's daughter
	Shambo Shiva Shambo	Pavithra	Telugu	Debut as lead actress in Telugu; Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu
	Easan	Poorani	Tamil
2011	Hudugaru	Pavithra	Kannada	Kannada debut; Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Kannada
	7aum Arivu	Bodhidharma's wife	Tamil	Cameo appearance
2012	Dammu	Rama Chandra's sister	Telugu
	Dhamarukam	Shailu
	Genius	Yasir's sister
2013	Isaac Newton S/O Philipose	Annie	Malayalam	Malayalam debut
	Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu	Chinni	Telugu
	Mahankali	Abhinaya		Guest appearance
2014	Veeram	Poongothai	Tamil
	1 by Two	Razia	Malayalam
	Poojai	Durga	Tamil
2015	The Reporter	Sara	Malayalam
	Shamitabh	Abhinaya	Hindi	Hindi debut in a Minor role
	Thani Oruvan	Dr.Manimekalai	Tamil
	Thakka Thakka	Indhu
2016	Adida Melam	Devaki
	Dhruva	Dr. Akshara	Telugu
2017	Kuttram 23	Abhinaya	Tamil	25th Film
	Nisabdham	Aadhira
	Senjittale En Kadhala	Sona
	Raju Gari Gadhi 2	Kiran	Telugu	Negative role
	Vizhithiru	Radio City RJ	Tamil
2018	Kicchu	Suri's wife	Kannada	[13]
2020	Irattaiyar	Amirtha	Tamil
2021	Auto Ramanna		Kannada
2022	Sita Ramam	Noor Jahan's sister-in-law	Telugu
2023	Kuttram Purinthal	Uma	Tamil
2023	Mark Antony	Vedavalli
2024	Gaami	Durga	Telugu
	The Family Star	Govardhan's sister-in-law		[14]
	Vidya Vasula Aham	Lakshmi		Released on aha[15]
	Pani	Gowry	Malayalam	[16]
2025	Mookuthi Amman 2†	TBA	Tamil	Filming[17]

Web series

List of Abhinaya's series and roles

Year	Title	Role	Language	Availability	Notes	Ref
2023	Mansion 24	Radha	Telugu	Disney+ Hotstar	Web Debut