Priya Anand
Priya atFukrey Jugaadu event
Born	(1986-09-17)17 September 1986 (age 38) Madras,Tamil Nadu, India
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	2009–present

Priya Anand (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears inTamil films. She has also appeared in a fewTelugu,Hindi,Kannada andMalayalam films.

After pursuing higher studies in the US, she began a career in modelling in 2008 before making her acting debut in the Tamil filmVaamanan (2009) and then her Telugu debut inLeader a year later.^[1][2] She made her Hindi debut in 2012 with a supporting role inEnglish Vinglish and subsequently appeared in the filmsFukrey (2013) andRangrezz (2013).

Priya Anand was born on 17 September 1986 inChennai,Tamil Nadu.^[3][4] She is the only child to aTamil mother and a half-Telugu, half-Marathi father.^[5] She was brought up in both her parents' hometowns,Chennai andHyderabad, becoming fluent inTamil andTelugu.^[6] Besides native languages, Priya is proficient in English,^[7]Bengali,Hindi,Marathi andSpanish as well.^[6]

Priya became fascinated with films, developing an interest in cinema, since childhood, and noted that she has been dreaming of getting into the film industry and working on technical aspects of film making, but confesses she never thought of becoming an actor.^[6][7] She moved to theUS, where she pursued her higher studies.^[7] Keeping her later career in mind, she studiedcommunications andjournalism atSUNY Albany.^[6] In 2008, she returned to India and ventured into modeling, appearing in varioustelevision advertisements likeNutrine Maha Lacto,Prince Jewellery andCadbury Dairy Milk.^[6]

Priya was initially supposed to make her acting debut in the Tamil filmPugaippadam, which she signed up first, but since its release was delayed until 2010, her first release became the action-thrillerVaamanan, directed by newcomer Ahmed. She was signed for the project in late 2008 to portray Divya, a simple girl next-door, whom the male lead character, played byJai, would fall in love with. The film created some anticipation before its release, mainly due to its hit music byYuvan Shankar Raja, which enabled a big opening,^[8][9] with the song "Aedho Seigirai" picturised on her considered as her "claim-to-fame" that made her popular among Tamil audience, and dubbed as a "Priya song".^[10][11] However the film got a lukewarm reception and did mediocrely at the Chennaibox office.

In 2010, three of her films released within a short span of time, the first on New Year 2010, which was thecollege-life based dramaPugaippadam, a film revolving around the friendship between seven students. Priya enacted the character of one of the student roles, aMalayali Christian named Shiney George.^[12] The film opened to mixed reviews and proved to be commercially unsuccessful. She next starred in her first Telugu film,AVM Productions'Sekhar Kammula directedpolitical dramaLeader, alongside newcomersRana Daggubati andRicha Gangopadhyay. She recalls that an assistant director of Kammula had found her onFacebook and invited her and how she had to audition thrice for the film to prove herself and eventually got the offer.^[6][7] She played Ratna Prabha, atelevision channel reporter and friend to a young man, who would later go on to become apolitical leader. Although her screen presence in the film was very limited, her performance garnered overwhelming response and was well received,^[2][13] while the film itself earned positive reviews and became a critical success.^[6] TheDil Raju-produced family entertainerRama Rama Krishna Krishna was her last 2010 release, in which she plays the love interest of the film's male protagonist. She next starred in180, a bilingual Tamil-Telugu project by ad filmmaker Jayendra, which was her only release in 2011.^[14]

She has made her debutHindi filmEnglish Vinglish (2012), produced byR Balki,^[15] in which she had shared screen withSridevi, who Priya admires and considers her idol. Priya said: "I signed this film just to be up and close to an artist who has influenced me and to be part of something that was so important to her. I'm doing this movie as her fan and I'm fortunate enough to play a very important part in her journey in the film".^[16] She acted in Telugu romance movie,Ko Antey Koti (2012). Her Hindi films in 2013 wereRangrezz andFukrey. In Tamil, she played the lead role inEthir Neechal (2013) alongsideSivakarthikeyan andNandita Swetha. The film is a box-office winner.^[17] She was also seen in the comedyVanakkam Chennai (2013).

She acted simultaneously for four Tamil films;Arima Nambi (2014) featuresVikram Prabhu,Irumbu Kuthirai (2014) starsAtharvaa, withVimal inOru Oorla Rendu Raja (2014) andVai Raja Vai (2015) features her oppositeGautham Karthik.^[18][19] Priya Anand has shot for a special cameo inG. V. Prakash Kumar’sTrisha Illana Nayanthara (2015) which is being directed by newcomerAdhik Ravichandran.^[20]

Priya Anand debuted inMalayalam with thePrithviraj starrer horror thrillerEzra (2017).^[21] The next was a Tamil movie,Muthuramalingam (2017). However this movie was a failure.^[22] Priya Anand made herKannada debut with the much-hypedRaajakumara (2017) and added a new dimension to her career. Her next projects were followed by comedies in Tamil withKootathil Oruthan (2017) and Hindi withFukrey Returns (2017). Priya Anand's long time desire to work in a period film highly anticipated Malayalam releaseKayamkulam Kochunni (2018), which starsNivin Pauly. Priya's character played a pivotal role in the life of Kochunni.^[23] Priya, who won over the Kannada cinema audience right in her first film, has worked withGanesh inOrange (2018).^[24] She appeared in the MalayalamKodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel (2019) starringDileep.^[25] She then played in the political satire Tamil filmLKG (2019).^[26] She was seen inDhruv Vikram’s debut,Adithya Varma (2019), in a supporting role. Priya Anand to reunite oppositePuneeth Rajkumar again inJames (2022).^[27] After being postponed multiple times, directorR. Kannan’sKasethan Kadavulada (2023) was released, with the remake of the 1972 film of thesame name.^[28] She also joined the cast ofLeo (2023) directed byLokesh Kanagaraj. Her next movie in the Kannada wasYogaraj Bhat’sKarataka Damanaka (2024).^[29] She has worked with stars likePrashanth andSimran inAndhagan (2024).^[30]

On 20 June 2011, Priya became an ambassador for theSave the Children campaign for bothTamil Nadu andAndhra Pradesh.^[31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPriya Anand.

• Priya Anand atIMDb
• Priya Anand onTwitter

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• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Telugu actresses

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