Sobhita Dhulipala

Sobhita Dhulipala ( ; born 31 May 1992) is an Indian actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She won runner-up title Femina Miss India Earth 2013 at Femina Miss India 2013 pageant and represented India at Miss Earth 2013. Dhulipala made her acting debut in Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 and subsequently played the lead role in the Amazon Prime Video series Made in Heaven (2019–2023), that earned her recognition.

Dhulipala went on to appear in commercial successes—the Telugu films Goodachari (2018) and Major (2022), the Malayalam films Moothon (2019) and Kurup (2021), the two-part Tamil epic Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023), and the Hindi crime thriller series The Night Manager (2023). She expanded to American cinema with the action thriller Monkey Man (2024). Dhulipala is married to actor Naga Chaitanya.

Early life Dhulipala was born on 31 May 1992, in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh into a Telugu Brahmin family. Her father, Venugopala Rao, was a Merchant Navy engineer and her mother Santha Kamakshi was a primary school teacher. She grew up in Visakhapatnam. She moved to Mumbai by herself at the age of sixteen and later attended H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in University of Mumbai, studying corporate law. She is also a trained classical dancer in Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam. In her late teens, Dhulipala was crowned the Navy Queen at the annual Navy Ball in 2010.

Subsequently, she represented India in Miss Earth 2013, in the Philippines, but could not finish in the top 20, instead landing sub-titles of Miss Photogenic, Miss Beauty for a cause, Miss Talent and Miss Beautiful face.

Acting career Dhulipala made her film debut opposite Vicky Kaushal in Raman Raghav 2.0 in 2016. and also signed a three-film deal with Phantom Films in July 2016. For her role in the film, she was nominated by critics for best supporting performance at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes Film festival 2016. In early August 2016, she signed two films, Kaalakaandi directed by Akshat Verma and Chef directed by Raja Menon, both starring opposite Saif Ali Khan. In 2018, Dhulipala appeared in her first Telugu film Goodachari co-starring Adivi Sesh, playing a Psychology graduate.

In 2019, Dhulipala's portrayed Tara, a wedding planner in Amazon Prime's original series Made In Heaven, in which The Hindu called her 'layered and empathetic portrayal a standout'. She also appeared in one of the leading roles in Bard of Blood, an Indian fictional spy thriller Netflix series, based on the 2015 espionage novel of the same name as an intelligence agency operative. Dhulipala made her debut in Malayalam cinema with Geetu Mohandas directorial-feature Moothon alongside Nivin Pauly, in the same year. Her final work of the year was the Hindi film The Body alongside Emraan Hashmi.

She played a pregnant woman in the anthology Ghost Stories. In 2021, Dhulipala appeared in Kurup. In 2022, Dhulipala played a guest stuck in the hotel, in Hindi-Telugu biographical Major.

Dhulipala appeared in Mani Ratnam's period film Ponniyin Selvan: I and its sequel Ponniyin Selvan: II, as Vaanathi. She then appeared alongside Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur in two seasons of The Night Manager. For the series, she won ITA Award for Best Actress - Popular (OTT). Dhulipala then reprised Tara in the second season of Made In Heaven.

In 2024, Dhulipala starred in a Hollywood film, as Sita in Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man, which he also starred in. Before her initial film debut, she auditioned for the role and, in 2019, Patel called to tell her he knew she was perfect for it from the moment he saw her audition.

Personal life Dhulipala began dating Naga Chaitanya in 2022. After two years of relationship, they got engaged on 8 August 2024 in Hyderabad. Dhulipala married Chaitanya on 4 December 2024 at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad.

Filmography

Films + List of film credits Year Title Role Language Notes 2016 Raman Raghav 2.0 Smrutika Naidu "Simi"Hindi 2017 Chef Vinnie 2018 Kaalakaandi Tara Goodachari Sameera Rao / Sameera Sheikh Telugu 2019 Moothon Rosy Malayalam The Body Maya Verma Hindi 2020 Ghost Stories Neha Anurag Kashyap's segment 2021 Kurup Sharadamma / Sharadha Kurup Malayalam 2022 Major Pramoda Reddy TeluguHindi Bilingual film Ponniyin Selvan: I Vaanathi Tamil 2023 Ponniyin Selvan: II 2024 Monkey Man Sita English American film Love, Sitara Sitara Hindi 2026 Cheekatilo Sandhya Nelluri Telugu

Television All shows are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.

Accolades + List of acting awards and nominations received by Sobhita Dhulipala Year Award Category Work Result 2018 Screen Awards Most Promising Newcomer – Female Raman Raghav 2.0 2019 Grazia Millenial Awards Breakthrough Performer of the Year Multiple films iReel Awards Best Actress - Drama Made in Heaven GQ India Emerging Star of the Year Multiple films 2022 Lions Gold awards Mouldbreaker of the Year Multiple films South Indian International Movie Awards Best Actress – Malayalam Kurup 2023 Best Supporting Actress – Telugu Major Indian Television Academy Awards Best Actress - Popular (OTT) The Night Manager Bollywood Hungama India Entertainment Awards Game Changer Best Actor of the Year Made in Heaven, The Night Manager 2024 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actor – Telugu Major