Nithya Menen (born 8 April 1988) is an Indian actor and playback singer who works in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. She is known for choosing unconventional parts over standard heroine roles and for speaking her own lines in every language she acts in. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the Tamil film Thiruchitrambalam (2022).
Quick Facts
| Full name | Nithya Menen |
| Born | 8 April 1988, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Age | 38 |
| Occupation | Actor, playback singer |
| Years active | 1998; 2006–present |
| Known for | Ala Modalaindi, O Kadhal Kanmani, Mersal, Thiruchitrambalam |
| Education | Manipal Institute of Communication (journalism) |
| Awards | National Film Award for Best Actress (2022 films); Filmfare Awards South; Nandi Award |
Early Life
Menen was born in Bengaluru to Malayali parents and grew up speaking Malayalam, Kannada and English. As a ten-year-old she appeared in The Monkey Who Knew Too Much (1998), an English-language film, playing the younger sister of the character played by Tabu. She studied journalism at Manipal and intended to become a reporter, then decided that films were a better way to say what she wanted and planned to study cinematography. Acting offers arrived before she could.
Career
She had a supporting part in the Kannada film 7 O’ Clock (2006) and played her first lead in the Malayalam film Aakasha Gopuram (2008), opposite Mohanlal. Her Telugu debut, Nandini Reddy’s romantic comedy Ala Modalaindi (2011), was an unexpected hit and won her the Nandi Award for Best Actress. The Tamil film 180 came the same year.
Over the next decade she moved between languages with unusual ease. In Telugu she starred in Ishq, Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, for which she won a Filmfare Award South, Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju and Bheemla Nayak. In Malayalam she was part of Anwar Rasheed’s Ustad Hotel (2012) and Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days (2014). In Tamil she played an independent young architect in a live-in relationship in Mani Ratnam‘s O Kadhal Kanmani (2015), had a key role in the hit horror comedy Kanchana 2 and won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for Mersal (2017), with Vijay.
She made her Hindi debut as a satellite engineer in Mission Mangal (2019) and played a mother searching for her kidnapped daughter in the Amazon series Breathe: Into the Shadows. The Telugu series Kumari Srimathi (2023) cast her as a woman who opens a bar in her village to win back her family home.
In Thiruchitrambalam (2022) she played Shobana, the cheerful childhood friend of a food-delivery worker played by Dhanush. The performance won her the National Film Award for Best Actress, which she shared with Manasi Parekh. She has since appeared in Kadhalikka Neramillai, Thalaivan Thalaivii with Vijay Sethupathi and Idli Kadai (all 2025).
Personal Life
Menen is a trained singer and has recorded songs in several of her films. She is unmarried and has said in interviews that she values solitude and has no wish to follow a conventional path. She has spoken openly about body-shaming in the film industry and about turning down roles she found demeaning.
Selected Filmography
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Nithya Menen born?
Nithya Menen was born on 8 April 1988 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India and is 38 years old.
What is Nithya Menen known for?
Known for: Ala Modalaindi, O Kadhal Kanmani, Mersal, Thiruchitrambalam.
What honours has Nithya Menen received?
National Film Award for Best Actress (2022 films); Filmfare Awards South; Nandi Award.
Featured image: Nithya Menen in October 2023. Photo by Dream Sparrow, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
