Priyamani was born and raised in Bangalore, Karnataka[6] belonging to a Tamil Palakkad Iyer family.[7] Her father, Vasudevan Mani Iyer, owns a plantation business and her mother, former national level badminton player, Lathamani Iyer, was a bank manager at Union Bank of India. She modelled for Kanchipuram Silk, Erode Bharani Silks and Lakshmi silks during her school years.[8] When she was in the 12th Standard, Tamil director Bharathiraja introduced her to the film industry.[9][10][11] While at school, she actively participated in extracurricular activities and in sports.[12] She is the granddaughter of Carnatic vocalist, Kamala Kailas.[13] She is the cousin of film actress, Vidya Balan and the niece of playback singer, Malgudi Shubha.[14]
Priyamani was educated at Sri Aurobindo Memorial School, Bengaluru, and thereafter at Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College, Bengaluru.[15] After completing her schooling, she modelled for print advertisements. She then pursued a degree in Bachelor of Arts in psychology through correspondence.[16] She can speak in English, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi fluently. Director Fazil had approached her, and she rejected the offer prior to her board examinations and eventually made her film debut in a Tamil film.[17]
Priyamani then made her debut in Malayalam cinema with Sathyam.[13] Then she was signed by Tamil film director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to act in the 2005 drama Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. Before release, Babith said "Priyamani has come up with an excellent performance in the movie. Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam was critically acclaimed but failed at the box office.[19] However, she won acclaim for her performance in the film.[citation needed] In 2006, Priyamani starred in the Telugu film Pellaina Kothalo. The film was a hit and got her three Telugu films.[13][20][21]
She had another commercially successful film in Telugu, in the 2007 film Yamadonga[25][26][27] and in the Tamil film Malaikottai.[28][29] She again received critical acclaim in 2008 for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha, in which she played a role based on the turbulent real-life story of late film actress Srividya.[30] She won another Filmfare Award for her performance.[31] In Tamil, she had a single release in 2008: Thotta.[32]
In 2009 she had two Tamil releases, the masala filmArumugam and the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Classmates,[33][34] titled Ninaithale Inikkum.[35] The former was a commercial failure:[36] Her Kannada debut film Raam was also a commercial success.[37][38][39] All three of her Telugu releases that year, however, (Drona, Mitrudu, Pravarakhyudu) did not do well at the box office.[40][41][42] In 2010 she acted in the satirical film Pranchiyettan & the Saint which became the longest-running Malayalam film since 2005.[43] She won a Filmfare nomination for her role as a Mumbai-based interior decorator in the film.
Priyamani during the shoot of Rakht Charitra in 2010
She was subsequently signed by director Mani Ratnam for his bilingual film, titled Raavanan and Raavan in Tamil and Hindi respectively.[44] Soon after, she was hired by Bollywood director-producer Ram Gopal Varma for his bilingual film Rakht Charitra. Varma decided to cast her after seeing her National Award-winning performance in Paruthiveeran.[citation needed] Her Kannada film Vishnuvardhana became a blockbuster hit[45][46] and later she starred in Anna Bond.[47] Although the film was poorly received by critics and featured on Rediff's "Most Disappointing Kannada Films of 2012" list,[48] it went on to become a successful venture at the box office.[citation needed] She appeared in an item number in the Bollywood film Chennai Express.[49] She has completed shooting for a Malayalam film, The True Story and the Telugu film, Chandee, in which she plays Ganga the granddaughter of a freedom fighter, who seeks revenge for the problems her family had to face.[50] She was cast opposite Darshan in the Kannada film Ambareesha in (2014).[51][52] In 2014, she posed for a PETA ad campaign, asking the public to boycott zoos that feature caged tigers.[53][54][55] In 2024, she was cast in the Hindi film Article 370
Priyamani announced her engagement to Mustafa Raj, an event organiser, in 2016,[56] and the couple married in Bengaluru in 2017.[57] Priyamani is Hindu, while her husband is a Muslim; she has spoken about receiving negative text messages and online comments due to their interfaith marriage.[57]
The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Best Actress Award to Priyamani at the 54th National Film Awards function, in New Delhi on September 02, 2008.
^Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.
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