Parvathy Thiruvothu (born 7 April 1988) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Malayalam films and also in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. She is regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, twice winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, and is equally known as a founder member of the Women in Cinema Collective and an outspoken critic of sexism in the film industry.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Parvathy Thiruvothu |
| Born | 7 April 1988, Kozhikode, Kerala |
| Age | 38 |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | Poo, Bangalore Days, Ennu Ninte Moideen, Charlie, Take Off, Uyare, Virus, Puzhu, Ullozhukku |
| Education | All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram (B.A. English Literature) |
| Awards | Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress (2015, 2017); IFFI Silver Peacock for Best Actress (2017); National Film Award – Special Mention |
Early Life
Parvathy was born in Kozhikode to parents who were both lawyers and grew up in Thiruvananthapuram. She went to a Kendriya Vidyalaya and studied English literature at All Saints’ College. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and worked as a television presenter on a music channel while a student.
Career
Beginnings
She made her debut in Out of Syllabus (2006) and had a supporting part in Notebook the same year. Success came first outside Kerala: the Kannada film Milana (2007) ran for more than a year, and the Tamil film Poo (2008), in which she played a village girl devoted to her cousin, won her wide critical praise. She then acted little for several years, turning down roles she found empty.
Recognition
Bangalore Days (2014), in which she played a radio jockey who uses a wheelchair, began the best period of her career. For Ennu Ninte Moideen and Charlie (both 2015) she won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress. In Take Off (2017) she played a nurse trapped with her colleagues in a hospital in Iraq when it is overrun by militants, a role based on real events. It brought her a second state award, the best actress prize at the International Film Festival of India and a special mention at the National Film Awards.
She made her Hindi debut opposite Irrfan Khan in Qarib Qarib Singlle (2017). In Uyare (2019) she played a trainee pilot who survives an acid attack by her boyfriend, and in Virus a doctor tracing the Nipah outbreak. Later work includes Puzhu with Mammootty, the Telugu web series Dhootha, the family drama Ullozhukku (2024) and Pa. Ranjith’s Thangalaan, with Vikram. In 2026 she starred in the investigative thriller Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar, a box-office success.
Activism
In 2017, after a fellow actress was abducted and assaulted in Kochi, Parvathy and other women in the industry formed the Women in Cinema Collective to press for safe and equal working conditions. Its petition led the Kerala government to appoint the Justice Hema Committee, whose report, published in August 2024, documented widespread harassment and discrimination.
At a film festival in December 2017 she criticised the misogynistic dialogue in a recent film starring a senior actor. She was subjected to weeks of abuse and threats online, and two men were arrested. She has said that film offers dried up for a time afterwards. In 2020 she resigned from the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists over remarks by one of its office-bearers.
Name
She was credited for years as Parvathy Menon, a surname given to her by the press. In 2015 she asked to be called by her family name, Thiruvothu, saying she did not wish to carry a caste title.
Personal Life
She lives in Kochi, is unmarried and keeps her private life out of the media.
Featured image: Parvathy Thiruvothu in August 2018. Photo by Syed Shiyaz Mirza, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
