Amala Akkineni

Amala Akkineni (née Mukherjee) (born 12 September 1967^[1]) is an Indian actress, Bharatanatyam dancer, and activist.^[2] She has predominantly worked in Tamil films, in addition to Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 1992 and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film Ulladakkam^[3] and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film Life Is Beautiful.^[4] Amala is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad,^[5] a non-government organisation (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.^[6][7]

Amala Akkineni
Akkineni in 2010
Born	Amala Mukherjee (1967-09-12) 12 September 1967 (age 57) Kharagpur Airforce Base Kalaikunda, West Bengal, India
Alma mater	Kalakshetra, Chennai
Occupations	Director of Annapurna College of Film and Media Actress animal welfare environmental activist
Years active	1986–1993 2012–present
Spouse	Nagarjuna ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	Akhil Akkineni (b. 1994)

Early life

Amala was born in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) to a Bengali Indian Navy officer and an Irish mother.^[8][9] Their family soon shifted to Madras (present-day Chennai) where she was brought up.^[10] She has a brother.

Amala holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Bharatanatyam from Kalakshetra college of fine arts, Madras now Chennai.^[11] She gave many live performances worldwide.^[12][13] She is fluent in English, Telugu, and Tamil, and can understand Bengali.^[14][15]

Personal life

Amala married Telugu actor Nagarjuna on 11 June 1992 and the couple has a son, actor Akhil Akkineni born in 1994. She is the step-mother of actor Naga Chaitanya.^[16] They currently live in Hyderabad.^[13]

Career

She was persuaded to join films by T. Rajendar, who visited her home with his wife Usha and convinced her mother to let her act in the film, which would be a classical film featuring her Bharatanatyam dancing.^[17] That film was Mythili Ennai Kaathali (1986) which was a box office hit. After the film's success, she acted in several Tamil films such as Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu (1986), Panneer Nadhigal (1986) and Velaikkaran (1987).^[18] She acted with her future husband Akkineni Nagarjuna in hits such as Nirnayam and Siva.^[19] She garnered acclaim for her role in the film Ulladakkam (1991).

She quit acting in 1992 following her marriage to Nagarjuna. After a hiatus of 20 years she made a comeback in 2012 with the Telugu film Life is Beautiful.^[20] She received a CineMAA Award for Best Outstanding Actress and Telugu category Filmfare Award for best supporting actress in 2013 for her portrayal.

She returned to Malayalam cinema with C/O Saira Banu after a gap of 25 years, since Ulladakkam.^[21]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Tamil

Year	Title	Role	Note
1986	Mythili Ennai Kaathali	Mythili	Tamil film debut Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil
	Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu	Noorjahan
	Panneer Nathigal	Meera
	Kanne Kaniyamuthe	Kavita
	Unnai Ondru Ketpen	Gita
	Oru Iniya Udhayam	Anju
1987	Velaikaran	Kaushalya
	Poo Poova Poothirukku	Mary
	Koottu Puzhukkal
	Vedham Pudhithu	Vaidehi	Nominated — Filmfare Award for Best Actress — Tamil
	Kavithai Paada Neramillai
	Idhu Oru Thodar Kathai	Sumathi
1988	Agni Natchathiram	Anjali
	Kodi Parakkuthu	Aparna
	Sathyaa	Geetha Nair
	Jeeva	Geetha
	Illam	Saradha
	Kaliyugam
	Nethiyadi	Amala	Guest appearance
1989	Mappillai	Geetha
	Varam
	Naalai Manithan	Prabhu's girlfriend
	Uthama Purushan	Rekha
	Vetri Vizha	Lalitha
1990	Pudhu Padagan	Devi
	Mounam Sammadham	Hema
1991	Vaasalil Oru Vennila	Kamal
	Karpoora Mullai	Maya Vinodini
2022	Kanam	Adhi's mother	Shot simultaneously in Telugu[22]

Telugu

Year	Title	Role	Note
1987	Kirayi Dada	Lata	Telugu film debut
1988	Chinababu	Madhu
	Raktha Tilakam	Radha
1989	Siva	Asha
1990	Prema Yuddham	Latha
	Raja Vikramarka	Rekha
	Aggiramudu	Manasa
1991	Nirnayam	Geetha
1991	Aagraham	Chitra
2012	Life Is Beautiful	Amma
2014	Manam	Dance Teacher	Cameo appearance
2022	Oke Oka Jeevitham	Adhi's mother	Shot simultaneously in Tamil[22]

Hindi

Year	Title	Role	Note
1988	Dayavan	Sarita	Remake of Nayakan (1987)
	Kab Tak Chup Rahungi	Geeta
1989	Dost	Pooja
	Jurrat	Renu
1990	Shiva	Asha
2013	Listen... Amaya	Sujata
2015	Hamari Adhuri Kahani	Rohini Ruparel	Cameo appearance
2018	Karwaan	Tahira
2023	Tumse Na Ho Payega	Pooja

Kannada

Year	Title	Role	Note
1987	Pushpaka Vimana	Magician's daughter	Silent film Kannada film debut
1990	Bannada Gejje	Menaka
1991	Agni Panjara
1992	Ksheera Sagara
	Belliyappa Bangarappa	Mutthamma

Malayalam

Year	Title	Role	Note
1991	Ente Sooryaputhrikku	Maya Vinodini	Malayalam film debut
	Ulladakkam	Reshma
2017	C/O Saira Banu	Adv. Annie John Tharavadi
2021	The Fall into Spring	Sulochana Ramachandran	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Language	Network
1991	Penn		Tamil	Doordarshan
1992	Sangursh		Hindi	Doordarshan
2010	Super mother	Judge	Tamil	Star Vijay
2014–2015	Uyirmei	Dr. Kavitha Sandeep	Tamil	Zee Tamil
2019	High Priestess	Swathi Reddy	Telugu	ZEE5
2020	The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye	Maya's mother	Hindi	Amazon Prime Video

Awards and honours

Year	Award	Award Category	Work	Result	Ref.
1989	Cinema Express Awards	Cinema Express Award for Best Actress Special Jury	Illam Agni Natchathiram	Won	[23]
1991	Filmfare Awards South	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam	Ulladakkam	Won	[3]
2013		Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu	Life Is Beautiful	Won	[24]
	CineMAA Awards	CineMAA Awards for Best Outstanding Actress		Won	[25]
2013	SIIMA	SIIMA Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu		Nominated
2023			Oke Oka Jeevitham	Nominated	[26]
2024	Filmfare Awards South	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu		Nominated