Divyaa Unni is an Indian actress and classical dancer who teaches various forms of dance such as

Bharathanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

Kuchipudi Kuchipudi () ( Telugu: ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sa ...

and Mohiniyattom.

Early life

Divyaa Unni was born to Ponnethmadhatil Unnikrishnan and Kizhkemadhatil Uma Devi at Kochi, Kerala, India. Her mother Uma Devi, is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

teacher and is the Head of Sanskrit Department; at Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Girinagar & was awarded the

National Award for Teachers (India) 'National Award to Teachers'' is the National award to the Teachers, being awarded by the President of India on 5 September (Teacher's Day) every year to give public recognition to meritorious teachers working in primary, middle and secondary schoo ...

, in the year 2013 by the President of India Shri

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

. She has a sister, Vidhya Unni, who has worked as a lead in couple of

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 wa ...

movies. Divyaa completed her schooling in

Bhavan's Vidya Mandir, Girinagar Bhavan's Vidya Mandir, Girinagar (B.V.M. (G)) is a Senior Secondary School (Std. I–XII) affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi. It is a part of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a group of educational institutions ...

. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Communicative English from St. Teresa's College,

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

. Divyaa is related (cousin) to Malayalam actress

Meera Nandan Meera Nandan is an Indian actress who appears mainly in Malayalam films. She also appeared in a few Tamil and Telugu films. Early life Meera Nandan was born as Meera Nandakumar on 26 November 1990 as the daughter of Nandakumar and Maya at P ...

and

Remya Nambeesan Remya Nambeesan (born 24 March 1986) is an Indian actress, playback singer and dancer, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema. She started her career as an actress through the 2000 film ''Sayahnam''. She has acted in more than 65 films includin ...

. The actress has two children in her first marriage.

Film career

Divyaa has acted as a lead in over 50 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. As a child, Divyaa got her first break in the film ''

Neeyethra Dhanya ''Neeyethra Dhanya'' is a 1987 Indian Malayalam-language film, directed by Jeassy. The film stars Karthika, Murali, Menaka and Mukesh in the lead roles. The film has musical score by G. Devarajan. The film is based on a novel ''Oru Njayarazh ...

'' (1987) when she was a student in second grade. It was followed by ''

Pookkalam Varavayi ''Pookkalam Varavayi'' () is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Kamal and written by Ranjith from a story by P. R. Nathan. It stars Jayaram, Sunitha, Shamili, Murali, and Geetha. Divya Unni and Kavya Madhavan ma ...

'' (1991) directed by Kamal and ''

O' Faby ''O' Faby'' is a 1993 Indian Malayalam-language film. It was Asia's first full-length live action/animation hybrid feature film. It is directed by Sreekumar Krishnan Nair and stars Nagesh, Thilakan, Roque Tharakan, Manoj K. Jayan and Srividya ...

'' (1993). She also did a TV serial ''Iniyonnu Vishramikkatte'' directed by

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar (born 16 May 1957), professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. Early life Vinayan is from ...

. Divyaa's first feature film as a lead actress was '' Kalyana Sowgandhikam'' (1996) with actors like

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, inc ...

and

Kalabhavan Mani Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani (1 January 1971 – 6 March 2016), better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian actor and singer. Mani started his career as a mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan comedy troupe. He had starred in ove ...

in the lead roles - one she did when she was fourteen; studying in the tenth grade. Subsequently, she worked with the actors

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acti ...

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasional ...

and

and directors

Bharathan Bharathan (14 November 1946 – 30 July 1998) was an Indian film maker, artist, and art director. Bharathan is noted for being the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Padmarajan and K. G. George, in the ...

;

I V Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. C. ...

;

Sibi Malayil Sibi (Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is the headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name. Etymology The origin of the town's name is attributed to Rani Sewi, a Hindu lad ...

and

Lohithadas Ambazhathil Karunakaran Lohithadas (10 May 1955 – 28 June 2009) was an Indian screenwriter, playwright, film maker, and producer who worked in the Malayalam film industry. In a career spanning over two decades, his films have won a Nationa ...

Dance career

Divyaa started her

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

dance training at the age of three, thereafter she was trained in

, and

Mohiniyattam Mohiniyattam, ( ml, മോഹിനിയാട്ടം), is an Indian classical dance form that developed and remained popular in the state of Kerala. Kathakali is another classical dance form of Kerala. Mohiniyattam dance gets its name fr ...

. Subsequently, Divyaa Unni was crowned, in 1990 and 1991, ''Kalathilakom'' in

Kerala School Kalolsavam Kerala School Kalolsavam is an annual event conducted by the Government of Kerala, featuring several art competitions for high school and higher secondary school students of Kerala. The festival was started in 1956, and till 2022, it was call ...

statewide competitions. On India's premier Television Channel

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

, she has presented a variety of Indian dance art-forms to such as

, and

Indian folk dance Indian folk dances, which typically consist of a few simple steps, are performed throughout the world to celebrate a new season, childbirth, weddings, festivals, and other social occasions. In some Indian folk dances, men and women perform separ ...

. She continues to perform at various Indian dance festivals in India and international stages throughout North America, Europe and Persian Gulf countries. She has received many awards including the Aravindaksha Memorial Award – the ''Abhinaya Tilaka Puraskaram'' for the best state dance performance. In the pursuit of promoting Indian culture in the West, Divyaa is developing the artistic talents of young children in the United States, where she currently resides. With this goal, she is currently the Director of ''Sreepadam School of Arts'' in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States.

Filmography

Television

; Serials *

Neeyum Njanum ''Neeyum Njanum'' () is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language romance film written and directed by A. K. Sajan. It stars Sharaf U Dheen, Anu Sithara and Siju Wilson. The film was produced by Siyad Koker under the banner of Kokers Films, in associatio ...

(Zee Keralam) * Iniyonnu Vishramikkate (DD Malayalam) * Shankupushpam (Asianet) * Kunjikkoonan (DD Malayalam) * Manassu (DD Malayalam) ; Telefilm * Pranayam (Surya TV) ;TV shows as Host * American Jalakam (Asianet) * America Today (Kairali TV) * Pravaham * Poomottukal (DD Malayalam) ;TV shows as Judge *Comedy Stars Season 3 (Asianet) *Top singer season 2 (Flowers TV)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unni, Divya Living people 20th-century American dancers 20th-century Indian actresses 20th-century Indian dancers 20th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian women artists 20th-century women educators 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses from Kochi Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Bharatanatyam exponents Child actresses in Malayalam cinema Dancers from Kerala Educators from Kerala Indian dance teachers Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Kuchipudi exponents Teachers of Indian classical dance Women artists from Kerala Women educators from Kerala St. Teresa's College alumni 1981 births