Devayani (born 22 June 1974) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language films. She started her career with

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

films She received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for her performances in the films '' Surya Vamsam'' (1997) and '' Bharathi'' (2000) and a Special Award for ''

Kadhal Kottai ''Kadhal Kottai'' () is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romance film directed by Agathiyan. It stars Ajith Kumar and Devayani, with Heera, Thalaivasal Vijay, and Karan in supporting roles. The film was a major commercial success and also won th ...

'' (1996). She was a part of several successful films, including ''

Ninaithen Vandhai ''Ninaithen Vandhai'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by K. Selva Bharathy and produced by Allu Aravind. The film stars Vijay, Rambha and Devayani, with Charle, Ranjith, Senthil, and Vinu Chakravarthy in s ...

'' (1998), ''

Nee Varuvai Ena Nee or NEE may refer to: Names * Née (lit. "born"), a woman's family name at birth before the adoption of another surname usually after marriage **The male equivalent "né" is used to indicate what a man was originally known as before the adopt ...

'' (1999), ''

Thenali ''Thenali'' is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language comedy film co-written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jayaram, Devayani and Jyothika, with Delhi Ganesh, Charle, Ramesh Khanna and Madhan Bob in supporting roles. It rev ...

'' (2000), ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

'' (2001), ''

Aanandham ''Aanandham'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by N. Lingusamy and produced by R. B. Choudary. The film features an ensemble cast including Mammootty, Murali, Abbas, Devayani, Rambha, Sneha, Delhi Ganesh ...

'' (2001) and '' Azhagi'' (2002) as well as in the Sun TV's huge successful serial '' Kolangal''.

Personal life

Devayani was born on 22 June 1974 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, Maharashtra to a Konkani father from Mangalore,Karnataka and a Malayali mother from Kerala. She has two younger brothers

Nakkhul Nakkhul Jaidev is an Indian actor and playback singer who works in Tamil cinema. He debuted as one of the lead actors in the 2003 film ''Boys'' directed by S. Shankar. He sang his first song in the soundtrack album for ''Anniyan'' (2005). Car ...

and Mayur. The former is working as an actor and singer in the Tamil film industry, while the latter would also make his acting debut in an upcoming film. She dated director Rajakumaran, with whom she had worked on a few films for several years. Both their parents did not approve of their relationship, which led the couple to elope, and marry privately on 9 April 2001. They have two daughters, Iniya and Priyanka.

Career

Devayani began her career as Koyal in the Hindi film ''Koyal'', which was later cancelled during its production stage.The Hindu: Cinema Plus / Columns: My first break – Devayani
She appeared in a Bengali film, ''Shaat Ponchomi''. She also acted in a Marathi film before debuting in the South with lead roles in Malayalam films. ''

Kinnaripuzhayoram ''Kinnaripuzhayoram'' is a 1994 Malayalam romantic comedy film directed by Haridas and screenplay written by Girish Puthenchery and story by Priyadarshan. It stars Sreenivasan, Siddique, Thilakan, Devayani, Jagathy Sreekumar, Mukesh and Janar ...

'' is the first film in

. Next year she did Tamil and Telugu film also. She started as a glam doll, she has done item number in a Tamil movie called Sivashakthi. Her earliest films were released in the early and middle 90's including ''

''. Devayani began acting in the teleserial '' Kolangal'' as Abinaya, for 1,533 episodes on Sun TV. Kolangal made her one of the most successful personalities in Tamil television industry. It was later dubbed into Malayalam also in the same name on Surya TV. She has completed a Teacher Training course and is now a teacher at Church Park Convent, Chennai. Currently, she is judging a popular reality show on

Mazhavil Manorama Mazhavil Manorama is an Indian Free-to-air Malayalam general entertainment television channel operated and owned by Malayala Manorama Television (MMTV), the publisher of the widely circulated ''Malayalam Manorama'' daily, and the Malayalam wom ...

titled ''Ugram Ujwalam''. She has acted in some

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also. She is now acting in ''

Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal ''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Rahman (actor), Rahman (credited as Raghu) and Geetha (actress), Geetha, with Sowcar Janak ...

'', a Tamil serial of

Zee Tamil Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, T ...

in which she again paired with his '' Kolangal'' pair which is a her big comeback to Television.

Filmography

Television

Serials

Shows

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devayani Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people Konkani people University of Mumbai alumni Actresses in Telugu cinema 1973 births Actresses in Malayalam cinema Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners International Tamil Film Award winners Actresses from Mumbai Actresses in Tamil television Indian television actresses 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Bengali cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema