Abhinaya (actress)

Abhinaya
Occupation(s)	Actress, model
Years active	2009–present
Known for	Acting in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam films

Abhinaya is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam film industries. She is both hearing and speech impaired. Abhinaya made her acting debut with Naadodigal (2009) and has since featured in multiple Tamil and Telugu films.

Personal life

On 9 March 2025, Abhinaya became engaged to her longtime partner Vegesana Karthik, and the couple married on 16 April 2025 in Hyderabad.

Career

Director Samuthirakani discovered Abhinaya and cast her in his film Naadodigal, which achieved commercial success and was remade into three different languages. The acclaim she received for her performance in Naadodigal led to her being cast in the Telugu remake Shambo Shiva Shambo as well as the Kannada version titled Hudugaru. For these performances, she earned two Filmfare Awards. In 2010, she played a pivotal character in Sasikumar's Easan, and in 2011, director A. R. Murugadoss selected her for a supporting role alongside Suriya in 7 Aum Arivu.

In 2012, Abhinaya appeared in three Telugu films: Dammu and Dhamarukam, portraying the sister of lead actors Jr. NTR and Nagarjuna, respectively, as well as playing a Muslim character in Genius. That year also marked her first lead role in the Telugu movie Chandrudu opposite Krishnudu, although its release was postponed. She took on smaller supporting parts in the Telugu family drama Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013), and featured in Tamil action films such as Veeram (2014) and Hari's Poojai. Her debut Malayalam film, The Reporter, was released after delays in 2015. The same year, she made her Bollywood debut with a brief appearance in R. Balki's Shamitabh.

In 2017, she took on the role of a radio jockey in Vizhithiru and is scheduled to appear in the upcoming film Mela Thalam.

Filmography

Comprehensive list of Abhinaya's films and roles

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2008	Neninthe	Aditri	Telugu	Minor role; Telugu debut
	King	Friend of Sravani
	Sangamam	Friend of Samskruthi
2009	Naadodigal	Pavithra Natraj	Tamil	Tamil debut; Won -Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut - South Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Tamil Nominated for Vijay Award for Best Debut Actress
2010	Aayirathil Oruvan	Daughter of Cholan
	Shambo Shiva Shambo	Pavithra	Telugu	Lead actress debut; Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu
	Easan	Poorani	Tamil
2011	Hudugaru	Pavithra	Kannada	Kannada debut; Nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Kannada
	7 Aum Arivu	Bodhidharma's wife	Tamil	Cameo appearance
2012	Dammu	Sister of Rama Chandra	Telugu
	Dhamarukam	Shailu
	Genius	Sister of Yasir
2013	Isaac Newton S/O Philipose	Annie	Malayalam	Malayalam debut
	Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu	Chinni	Telugu
	Mahankali	Abhinaya		Guest appearance
2014	Veeram	Poongothai	Tamil
	1 by Two	Razia	Malayalam
	Poojai	Durga	Tamil
2015	The Reporter	Sara	Malayalam
	Shamitabh	Abhinaya	Hindi	Minor role; Hindi debut
	Thani Oruvan	Dr. Manimekalai	Tamil
	Thakka Thakka	Indhu
2016	Adida Melam	Devaki
	Dhruva	Dr. Akshara	Telugu
2017	Kuttram 23	Abhinaya	Tamil	25th film
	Nisabdham	Aadhira
	Senjittale En Kadhala	Sona
	Raju Gari Gadhi 2	Kiran	Telugu	Negative role
	Vizhithiru	Radio City RJ	Tamil
2018	Kicchu	Wife of Suri	Kannada
2020	Irattaiyar	Amirtha	Tamil
2021	Auto Ramanna'		Kannada
2022	Sita Ramam	Sister-in-law of Noor Jahan	Telugu
2023	Kuttram Purinthal	Uma	Tamil
2023	Mark Antony	Vedavalli
2024	Gaami	Durga	Telugu
	The Family Star	Sister-in-law of Govardhan
	Vidya Vasula Aham	Lakshmi		Released on aha
	Pani	Gowry	Malayalam
2025	Mookuthi Amman 2	Template:TBA	Tamil	Currently filming
TBA	Demonte Colony 3	TBA	Tamil	In production

Web series

Catalog of Abhinaya's web series and characters

Year	Title	Character	Language	Platform	Remarks
2023	Mansion 24	Radha	Telugu	Disney+ Hotstar	First appearance in a web series