Manchu Lakshmi Prasanna (born 8 October 1977) is an Indian actress, film producer, and television presenter who works in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

and worked in American television. The daughter of senior actor

Mohan Babu Manchu Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films ...

, Manchu holds a bachelor's degree in theatre from

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

. She has garnered two

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

and two

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...

. Manchu made her acting debut with the American television series ''

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

'', where she played the minor role of Sarasvati Kumar, the love interest of James Lesure. She then appeared in one episode of each of the following series: ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', ''Late Nights with my Lover,'' and '' Mystery ER''. She has also appeared in commercials for

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

AARP AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 ...

, and

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

. In 2006, she directed, produced, and acted in ''Perfect Lives'', a short film that was showcased at the Wilshire Fine Arts Theater as part of the ''La Femme Film Festival'' in Los Angeles. She made her theatre debut as

Miss Trunchbull Miss Agatha Trunchbull (nicknamed The Trunchbull) is the fictional headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School (or Elementary School), and the main antagonist in Roald Dahl's 1988 novel ''Matilda'' and its adaptations: the 1996 film ''Matilda'' (p ...

in the adaptation of Roald Dahl's ''Matilda'', directed by Taher Ali Baig, in 2016.

Early life and family

Lakshmi Manchu is the only daughter of actor

and Vidya Devi. She has a younger brother,

Vishnu Manchu Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu (born 23 November 1981) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works in Telugu cinema and television. Manchu had a brief stint as a child artist with the 1985 film ''Ragile Gundelu''. Years later, he starr ...

, and a younger paternal half-brother,

Manoj Manchu Manchu Manoj Kumar (born 20 May 1983) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He first appeared at the age of ten as a child artist in '' Major Chandrakanth''. He made his film debut in a leading role with '' Donga Dongadi'' in 2004. He ...

. She was born in Chennai. Manchu married Andy Srinivasan, an IT professional from Chennai, in 2006. The couple has a daughter born through

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...

. They settled in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

for a few years before moving to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Career

Having started her career at the age of 4, Manchu has been in 20 feature films in India and a few minor television roles in the U.S. She co-owns Sree Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures along with her family members, a production company that has produced fifty-six feature films to date. In December 2011, she was signed on to portray a supporting role in

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

's Tamil film '' Kadal'' after a successful audition. Portraying the role of Celina, a poor village woman, she expected this film to be her breakthrough but hardly got offers in Tamil after the film's release.

Filmography

Film

Acting roles

Producer

Television

Acting roles

As a host or judge

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manchu, Lakshmi Living people Indian film actresses Indian women television presenters Indian television presenters Television personalities from Andhra Pradesh Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Telugu television Actresses in Malayalam cinema 21st-century Indian actresses Oklahoma City University alumni Indian emigrants to the United States Nandi Award winners Indian women film producers Film producers from Andhra Pradesh People from Chittoor district Actresses in Tamil cinema Filmfare Awards South winners Businesspeople from Andhra Pradesh 1977 births South Indian International Movie Awards winners