Sameera Reddy (born 14 December 1978) is a former Indian actress who primarily worked in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

films, in addition to

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, na ...

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 ...

language films. Reddy made her film debut with the 2002 film ''

Maine Dil Tujhko Diya ''Maine Dil Tujhko Diya'' ('' en, I gave my heart to you'') is a 2002 Indian Hindi romantic action film, directed, produced, written by and starring Sohail Khan, who makes his acting debut along with another debutante, Sameera Reddy. The film ...

''. She is best known for starring in films such as ''

Darna Mana Hai ''Darna Mana Hai'' (English: ''Fear is Forbidden'') is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language anthology Horror film. The film consists of six different short stories. It stars Nana Patekar, Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Shilpa Shetty, Sameera Reddy, Is ...

'' (2003), '' Musafir'' (2004), ''

Jai Chiranjeeva ''Jai Chiranjeeva'' is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by K. Vijaya Bhaskar and produced by Vyjayanthi Movies. The movie stars Chiranjeevi, Arbaaz Khan, Sameera Reddy and Bhumika Chawla. The film's climax was shot in L ...

'' (2005), '' Taxi Number 9211'' (2006), ''

Ashok Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

'' (2006), '' Race'' (2008), '' Varanam Aayiram'' (2008), '' De Dana Dan'' (2009), '' Aakrosh'' (2010), ''

Vettai ''Vettai'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film co produced, written and directed by N. Linguswamy. The film stars Arya, Madhavan, Sameera Reddy, and Amala Paul while Ashutosh Rana, Thambi Ramaiah and Nassar played suppor ...

'' (2012) and ''

Tezz ''Tezz'' () is a 2012 Indian action thriller film directed by Priyadarshan. It stars Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Zayed Khan, Sameera Reddy and Boman Irani. Malayalam actor Mohanlal appears in an extended cameo appearance. Upon rel ...

'' (2012).

Early life

Sameera Reddy was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

(now Mumbai),

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

to a

father and a Mangalorean mother. Her mother Nakshatra, referred to as Niki by her daughters and the media, was a

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of para ...

and worked with an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

. She has two siblings, Meghna Reddy, a former VJ and

supermodel A supermodel, also spelled super-model or super model, is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term ''supermodel'' became prominent in the po ...

, and Sushama Reddy, a Bollywood actress and model, both elder to her. She did her schooling at Bombay Scottish School in

Mahim Mahim (Marathi pronunciation: aːɦiːm(Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway and Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network is the l ...

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 secon ...

and graduated from Sydenham College. Reddy described herself as a "

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

" and "the ugly duckling in the family", while citing: "I was plump, had glasses and my glam quotient was rather low till I was 19."

Career

Reddy first appeared in

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

singer

Pankaj Udhas Pankaj Udhas (born 17 May 1951) is an Indian ghazal and playback singer. He started his career with a release of a ghazal album titled ''Aahat'' in 1980 and subsequently recorded many hits like ''Mukarar'' in 1981, ''Tarrannum'' in 1982, ''Mehf ...

's "Aur Aahista" music video in 1997. She was meant to make her debut as an actress in

Saravana Subbiah Saravana Subbiah is an Indian film director and actor, who has appeared in Tamil language films. He made his directorial debut with '' Citizen'' (2001), before making the romantic drama, ''ABCD'' (2005). Career Saravana Subbiah made his directo ...

's Tamil film ''

Citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

'', during early 2000s, but eventually did not feature. She caught the attention of Bollywood and was cast in a pivotal role in the 2002 Hindi film ''

''. In 2004, she appeared in '' Musafir'', opposite

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, besides television and international films and television. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a producer, Kapo ...

Aditya Pancholi Aditya Pancholi (born 4 January 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and playback singer working in Hindi cinema. Acting career 1985–87: Television movies and serials He was signed for a few television video films produced by Hiba, which ...

and

Koena Mitra Koena Mitra (born 7 January 1984) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Bollywood films. She is mostly known for her item numbers and for her appearance as Julie in the movie '' Apna Sapna Money Money''. Early life Mitra was born in Ko ...

. Reddy had a huge fan base in south India after her debut in Varanam Aayiram. Reddy is also the first Indian actress to have her own video game, Sameera the Street Fighter. This mobile video game can be downloaded by millions of fans and is available to cell phone users throughout India. Reddy was a judge for the

Miss Sri Lanka Online Miss Sri Lanka Online is an annual online beauty pageant. Miss Sri Lanka Online primarily used Facebook to run the contest. It is said to be the world's first major online beauty pageant. The contest debuted in 2012. In 2019 the event got a new loo ...

contest in 2012.

Personal life

Reddy married Akshai Varde, an entrepreneur, on 21 January 2014, in a traditional Maharashtrian ceremony. They have a son and daughter. Being a fan of American talk show hostess

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

, Reddy met and presented a saree to Winfrey during her visit to India.

Filmography

Films

Music videos

Video games

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Sameera Living people 1978 births Actresses from Mumbai Indian film actresses Telugu actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Bengali cinema Indian expatriate actresses in the United Kingdom 21st-century Indian actresses