Abhirami

Abhirami (born 26 July 1983) is an Indian film and voice actress. She has acted predominantly in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and has a few credits in Kannada films. Abhirami went on to establish herself as a leading actress in the 2000s across the Malayalam and Tamil language industries.

Abhirami went on to establish herself as a leading actress in the 2000s across the Malayalam and Tamil language industries after appearing in films such as Sradha (2000), Middle Class Madhavan (2001), Charlie Chaplin (2002), Raktha Kanneeru (2003) and Virumaandi (2004).

Early life and education She was born as Divya Gopikumar on 26 July 1983, to Gopikumar and Pushpa who were Tamil living in Kerala. She attended Christ Nagar English High School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, in Thiruvananthapuram and did predegree training from Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram before graduating in programs for psychology and communications from the College of Wooster in Ohio.

Her family migrated to the United States in 2004 when she got a job there. Her parents are yoga instructors in Ohio.

Career Abhirami made her debut in director Adoor Gopalakrishnan's film Kathapurushan. While in college, Abhirami worked as a TV anchor for the program Top Ten which aired on the Asianet channel, which according to Abhirami was "quite popular" and got her a film offer.

She had a small role in the Malayalam film Pathram in 1999 and in the series Mercara directed by Jude Attipetty. Later she acted in the films Millennium Stars, Njangal Santhushtaranu, and Sradha before shifting to Tamil cinema.

Her first Tamil film was Vaanavil (2000) opposite Arjun, which was a "big hit" In 2003, she appeared opposite Upendra in the film Raktha Kanneeru and opposite Shiva Rajkumar in Sri Ram. In 2004, she retired from the film industry and settled in the United States for her studies. She went on to work as the marketing director of an MNC there.

She went on to host Rishimoolam, a talk show on the Tamil television channel Puthuyugam.

After a 10-year hiatus, she returned to the film industry in 2014 and acted in multiple films as a supporting actress until 2021 when she got a role as one of lead actresses in the film Maara after 17 years. She also became a reality show judge through the show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (2023). She was cast in the supporting role in the action drama film Vettaiyan (2024) with Rajinikanth. Shen then appeared in the black comedy Jolly O Gymkhana (2024) as well as hyperlink thriller, Once Upon A Time in Madras (2024). She is back on screen with the Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan in director Mani Ratnam, Thug Life (2025). She reunites with Arjun after 25 years regarding the long gap between Vaanavil (2000) and Blast (2026).

Personal life Abhirami is married to Rahul Pavanan, grandson of writer Pavanan. The couple have an adopted daughter.

Filmography As actress

+ List of films and roles Year Title Role Language Notes 1995 Kathapurushan Malayalam Child artist 1999 Pathram Shilpa Mary Cherian Njangal Santhushtaranu Geethu Sanjeevan 2000 Millennium Stars Radha Sradha Swapna Melevaryathe Malakhakkuttikal Devika Variyar (Devu) Vaanavil Priya Tamil 2001 Megasandesam Kavitha Malayalam Middle Class Madhavan Abhirami Tamil Dosth Anamika Samudhiram Lakshmi Thank You Subba Rao Susi Telugu 2002 Charlie Chaplin Mythili Ramakrishnan Tamil Karmegham Maheswari Samasthanam Aishwarya 2003 Laali Haadu Sangeetha Kannada Sri Ram Vasundhara Charminar Keerthi Telugu Raktha Kanneeru Chandra Kannada 2004 Cheppave Chirugali Radha Telugu Virumaandi Annalakshmi Tamil 2014 Apothecary Dr. Nalini Nambiar Malayalam 2015 36 Vayadhinile Susan David Tamil Special appearance 2016 Ithu Thaanda Police Arundhati Varma Malayalam Ore Mukham Prof.Latha 2017 Chowka Indira Sharma Kannada 2018 Amar Akbar Anthony Amar's mother Telugu Special appearance Ottakoru Kaamukan Meera Malayalam 2019 DasharathaKrutikaKannada Aniyan Kunjum ThannalayathuBincy Malayalam 2020 Marjara Oru Kallu Vacha NunaChithira 2021 Maara Selvi TamilAmazon Prime film SulthanAnnalakshmi Cameo appearance Kotigobba 3IAS Durga Kannada 2022 Nitham Oru Vaanam Dr.Krishnaveni Tamil 2023 Are You Ok Baby? Vidhya Garudan Sreedevi Madhav Malayalam 2024 Maharaja Kokila Srilakshmi Selvam Tamil SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Saripodhaa Sanivaaram Chayadevi Telugu Bhale Unnade Gowri Vettaiyan Shwetha Dhakshinamoorthy Tamil Jolly O Gymkhana Chellamma Once Upon A Time in Madras Savitri 2025 Aghathiyaa Vaidheeshwari Cameo appearance Eleven Shanthi TamilTelugu Bilingual film Bomb Collector Krishnaammal Rambo Rambo's mother 12A Railway Colony Shalini Telugu Indian Penal Law Vasanthi Tamil 2026 Blast Neelaveni Karmakhya Telugu Malayalam

As a dubbing artist + Year Title For whom Language Director Ref. 2013 Vishwaroopam Pooja Kumar Tamil Kamal Haasan 2015 Uttama Villain Ramesh Aravind 2018 Vishwaroopam 2 Kamal Haasan

Television Top Ten, anchor of musical program (Asianet) Piyatha, telefilm (Asianet) Akshaya Pathram, (Asianet) Annie, telefilm (Kairali TV) Rishimoolam, host (Puthuyugam) Made For Each Other, host (Mazhavil Manorama) Kanakanmani, (Surya TV) as Radhika (Cameo) Flowers Oru Kodi (Flowers TV) as Participant Red Carpet (Amrita TV) as Mentor Oru Kodai Murder Mystery, as Ananthalakshmi (Annie) Varadarajan Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (season 3), (Zee Tamil), Judge Shyamambaram (Zee Keralam) Goli Soda Rising (Disney+ Hotstar) as Thendral Super star, (Amrita TV), Judge Mahanadigai, (Zee Tamil), Judge