Vanitha Vijayakumar
Vanitha in 2023
Born	(1980-10-05)5 October 1980 (age 45) Mannargudi,Thanjavur,Tamil Nadu, India[1]
Occupations	Actress, director
Years active	1995–1999, 2013–2015, 2019–present
Children	3
Parents	Vijayakumar (father) Manjula Vijayakumar (mother)
Relatives	Preetha Vijayakumar (sister) Sridevi Vijaykumar (sister) Arun Vijay (Half-brother)

Vanitha Vijayakumar (born 5 October 1980^[2]) is an Indianactress and film director who has appeared inTamil films and television shows.

She has starred in several films, includingChandralekha (1995),Manikkam (1996),Hitler Brothers (1997),Devi (1999),Naan Rajavaga Pogiren (2013),MGR Sivaji Rajini Kamal (2015),Malli Pelli (2023),Aneethi (2023),Andhagan (2024) andMrs & Mr (2025).^[3]

Vanitha was born on 5 October 1980 inThanjavur district,Tamil Nadu, India. Vanitha is the eldest daughter of Tamil actorVijayakumar and his second wife, Tamil actressManjula. Vanitha has two younger sisters,Preetha andSridevi, who were former actresses. From his first marriage to Muthukannu Vellalar, Vijayakumar had three children. ActorArun Vijay, Anitha and Kavitha are among her half-siblings.^[4][5]

In September 2018, she had a public fallout with her family after she refused to leave a family property that she had initially rented for a shoot in Ashtalakshmi Nagar. Her father, Vijayakumar, subsequently filed a police complaint against her.^[6][7]

Vanitha made her acting debut oppositeVijay inChandralekha (1995).^[8] Vanitha subsequently appeared alongsideRajkiran inManikkam (1996), before moving on to act in the Malayalam filmHitler Brothers (1997) and Telugu devotional fantasy filmDevi (1999).^[9] After her first marriage to Akash, Vanitha quit the film industry.

Vanitha made a brief comeback to acting in the mid-2010s, and first appeared in a small role inNaan Rajavaga Pogiren (2013). She followed this up with a longer role in the comedy drama,Summa Nachunu Irukku (2013). Vanitha then chose to turn producer and make a film titledMGR Sivaji Rajini Kamal (2015), to be directed by her then-boyfriendRobert. She produced the film under the Vanitha Film Production banner, suggesting that the script of the film originated from a joke they discussed at a social gathering.^[10][11] Following the commercial failure of the film, Vanitha lodged a police complaint against distribution studio Vibrant Medias, alleging that they did not release the film in 80 cinemas as agreed in their contract.^[12] She was also rejected by most directors and didn't receive any film offers from directors, and she decided to quit acting for some time due to criticisms.

On 2019, Vanitha appeared in the Tamil reality television showBigg Boss Tamil 3 onStar Vijay. She was the second contestant to be eliminated from the show. After a few weeks,Vanitha entered the house as a wild card.^[13]

In 2020, Vanitha appeared on season 1 of the Tamil Cooking showCooku with Comali onStar Vijay and became the winner.^[14]

She also later participated in the spin-off version show calledBigg Boss Ultimate (season 1) as a contestant.

She made a cameo appearance in theZee Tamil soap operaPudhu Pudhu Arthangal, playing a small role in the serial.^[15]

Vanitha Vijayakumar had married actor Akash on 10 September 2000.^[16] Their son was born in 2001 and their daughter in 2005. The marriage ended in divorce in 2005. Following a lengthy custody dispute, theMadras High Court ordered that the children split their time between both parents. Her son later moved in permanently with his grandfather and then with his father Akash.^[17][18]

In 2007 Vanitha Vijayakumar got married again, to businessman, Anand Jay Rajan. The pair has a daughter. The couple separated soon after and were officially divorced in 2012, with Rajan being awardedcustody of their child. Vanitha suggested that the pair divorced as a result of her disputes with Vijayakumar, and that Rajan had effectively become indirectly involved in the controversy costing her peace and career opportunities.

Following her separation with Anand Rajan in 2010, Vanitha dated choreographerRobert beginning in 2013.^[19] The duo also worked together professionally by producing a film titledMGR Sivaji Rajini Kamal (2015), before ending their relationship in 2017.^[20]

Vanitha was a bornHindu toTamil parents. On 30 March 2022 she converted toBuddhism following various religious rituals.^[21]

Vanitha has mentioned that she was suffering fromdepression for more than 10 years and that she later underwent medical treatment and professional counselling to recover fully.^[22]

In 2019, the police questioned Vanitha while she was onBigg Boss Tamil 3 inChennai over a complaint filed by Rajan alleging that she hadkidnapped their daughter.^[23]

In 2020 she revealed that she was in relationship with Peter Paul, a photographer who was already married and a father of two children.^[24] The couple got married on 27 June 2020 in Chennai. Vanitha's marital relationship created a lot of hype in the media. Peter's first wife, Elizabeth, filed a case against Vanitha and her husband and for not getting an official divorce before marrying again. As of October 2020, Vanitha denied Peter to be named as her husband as their marriage ceremony was not yet registered and broke up the relationship with him due to his ongoing addiction to alcohol.^[25]

In 2021, Vanitha officially opened her own clothing store outlet, Vanitha Vijayakumar Styling, located inChennai. She is also a part time costume designer.^[26][27]

Fiction

Non-fiction

• Vanitha Vijayakumar atIMDb

• Living people
• Actresses in Tamil cinema
• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Indian film actresses
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• Actresses in Telugu cinema
• Actresses in Tamil television
• Vijayakumar family
• Cooku with Comali contestants

• CS1 uses Tamil-language script (ta)
• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
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• Articles with dead external links from January 2024
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2024
• Use Indian English from August 2018
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2025
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2025
• Year of birth missing (living people)
• Place of birth missing (living people)