Lissy is an Indian actress, who has appeared primarily in

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

films, in addition to few

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

, Hindi,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

movies and a

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

movie too. She made her cinematic debut in 1982 with '' Ithiri Neram Othiri Karyam''. Her notable roles include ''

Odaruthammava Aalariyam ''Odaruthammava Aalariyam'' () is a 1984 Indian Malayalam-language screwball comedy film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Sreenivasan from a story by Priyadarshan. It is about a middle aged family man who is a womanizer and about three col ...

'' (1984), '' Mutharamkunnu P.O.'' (1985), '' Boeing Boeing'' (1985), '' Thalavattom'' (1986), '' Vikram'' (1986) and ''

Chithram ''Chithram'' () is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language screwball comedy film written and directed by Priyadarshan. The film was produced by P. K. R. Pillai under his production house Shirdi Sai Creations, and stars Mohanlal, Ranjini, Nedumudi V ...

'' (1988).

Early life

Lissy was born as the only child to Nellikaattil Pappachan (Varkey) and Aleyamma at Pazhanganad, Pukkattupadi,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

in Kerala. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she was brought up by her mother Aleyamma. Lissy did her studies at St. Teresa's School and College. She was a bright student and scored good marks during her schooling. She started her career at the age of 15 when she was studying for pre-university degree. She had to discontinue her studies to concentrate on her career.

Career

Her debut into films happened in the early '80s. Along with Malayalam films, Lissy also had appeared in several

, and

films. Lissy is most remembered for her roles in

, Thalavattom, Odaruthammava Alariyam, Mutharamkunnu P.O. and Boeing Boeing. As she stated in an interview with manam magazine she was introduced to Tamil films by

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

as his heroine in his home production, Vikram.

Personal life

She fell madly in love with the noted film director

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan Soman Nair (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has worked primarily in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Hindi cinema, Hindi cinema since 1982, directing over 90 films in multiple Indian languages, ...

, and married him on 13 December 1990. After marriage, Lissy gave up acting and adopted the name Lakshmi for religious reasons. After the birth of their son, Lissy converted to

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

religion from

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Lissy filed for divorce on 1 December 2014 in a

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

family court and was divorced on 1 September 2016, after 26 years of marriage.

Filmography

Malayalam

Telugu

Tamil

Kannada

Hindi

References

External links

*
Lizzy at MSI
(archive copy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lissy Actors from Ernakulam district Kerala State Film Award winners Former Roman Catholics Indian former Christians Converts to Hinduism from Christianity Indian film actresses Actresses from Kochi Actresses in Malayalam cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Child actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people St. Teresa's College alumni Converts to Hinduism Indian Hindus Year of birth missing (living people)