Ananya (actress)

Ayilya Nair (born 29 March 1987), better known by her stage name Ananya, is an Indian film actress, who appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She made her acting debut in Malayalam with Positive (2008) and debuted the following year in Tamil with Naadodigal, which emerged a critical and commercial success. She has a list of films in Malayalamand Tamil. She received a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil for Engaeyum Eppothum.

Early life

Ananya was born as Ayilya to Malayali parents Gopalakrishnan Nair, a noted film producer, and Praseetha in Kothamangalam, Kerala. She has one younger brother Arjun. She appeared as a child artist in one of her father's productions (executive producer), Pai Brothers (1995).Ananya pursued a B.A. degree in Communicative English at St. Xavier's College, Aluva. During her childhood, she was an archer and won the State Championship While representing her college in a television reality show "Star Wars",she was spotted by various directors and received acting offers. After declining five projects, she decided to give it a try, accepting to act in Positive.

Film career

Her screenname changed to Ananya, when she was working in her debut Tamil film Naadodigal.The film was a high commercial success, and Ananya rose to fame, with her performance in the film being appreciated. She went on to reprise the same role in its Malayalam remake Ithu Nammude Katha. The film Shikkaralongside Mohanlal, gave her a big break in Malayalam. She did some thrilling scenes in the climax of the movie Shikkar that impressed Mohanlal, which made him call her the "Vijayashanti" of Malayalam. She also played a supporting role in Kandahar, which saw her sharing screen space with Mohanlal and Amitabh Bachchan. In 2011, Ananya played one of the female lead roles in Engeyum Eppodhum, which received rave reviews and became a sleeper hit.
In 2014, she appeared in Pulivaal, her first Tamil release after three years.

Personal life

Ananya got engaged to Anjaneyan, a businessman from Trichur on 3 February 2012. However 2 weeks later news came that she has called off her engagement after knowing that Anjaneyan had a previous marriage from which he had sought divorce. This news hasn't been confirmed by the actress nor by her family. Then in July the actress went and married Anjaneyan in a highly secretive event in Tirupati. Recently she revealed that she is married to Anjaneyan in a TV show Idavelayil. They have since been giving T.V (Asianet) interviews together as a couple.