Amala Akkineni

Amala Akkineni is an Indian actress, Bharatanatyam dancer, and activist. She has predominantly worked in Tamil films, in addition to Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 1992 and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film Ulladakkam and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film Life Is Beautiful. Akkineni is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a non-government organisation in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.

Early life and education Amala Akkineni was born Amala Mukherjee in Kalaikunda, West Bengal, to a Bengali father, M.K. Mukherjee and an Irish mother, Meitim Connolly. Their family soon shifted to Chennai, where she was brought up. She has a brother.

Akkineni holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Bharatanatyam from the Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai.

Personal life Amala Akkineni married Telugu actor Nagarjuna on 11 June 1992 and the couple has a son, actor Akhil born in 1994. She is the step-mother of actor Naga Chaitanya. They currently live in Hyderabad.

She has given many live performances worldwide.

Career She was persuaded to join films by T. Rajendar, who visited her home with his wife Usha and convinced her mother to let her act in the film, which would be a classical film featuring her Bharatanatyam dancing. That film was Mythili Ennai Kaathali (1986) which was a box office hit. After the film's success, she acted in several Tamil films such as Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu (1986), Panneer Nadhigal (1986) and Velaikkaran (1987). She acted with her future husband [Nagarjuna in hits such as Siva (1989) and Nirnayam (1991). She garnered acclaim for her role in the film Ulladakkam (1991).

She quit acting in 1992 following her marriage to Nagarjuna. After a hiatus of 20 years she made a comeback in 2012 with the Telugu film Life is Beautiful. She received a CineMAA Award for Best Outstanding Actress and Telugu category Filmfare Award for best supporting actress in 2013 for her portrayal.

She returned to Malayalam cinema with C/O Saira Banu after a gap of 25 years, since Ulladakkam.

Filmography +Key Denotes films that have not yet been released

Tamil

Telugu