Amala Akkineni

Amala at TeachAIDS launch in 2010
Born	Amala Mukherjee September 12, 1968 (age 45) West Bengal, India
Residence	Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Occupation	Actress, Social Activist, Chairperson, Blue Cross of Hyderabad .
Years active	1986–1992 2012-present
Spouse(s)	Akkineni Nagarjuna (1992–present)
Children	Akhil Akkineni
Relatives	Naga Chaitanya Akkineni (step-son) Nageswara Rao Akkineni (father-in-law)

Amala Akkineni (born September 12, 1968) is an Indian film actress and Animal welfare activist. She has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films & She won 2 Filmfare Awards.

Early life

Amala was born on September 12, in West Bengal to an Irish mother and Bengali father. She has an elder brother and sister. The family moved around a lot due to her father being a Naval officer : Mumbai, Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, Vizag. Amala went to boarding school at Kalakshetra, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where she completed her education and trained in Bharatnatyam under the guidance of Sharada Hoffman and Rukmini Devi Arundale. She was member of the Kalakshetra troupe from an early age and gained valuable experience as a performer. Spotted in one such performance she was offered a role in films by T. Rajender who was casting for his Tamil film "Mythili Yennai Kadali " featuring her as a Bharat Natyam dancer. In 1992, She married Nagarjuna Akkineni and became a part of the Akkineni Family.

Career

Amala made her debut in a Tamil film titled Mythili Ennai Kaathali directed by T. Rajendar, which was a big box office hit. Winning overnight fame, she charmed cinegoers in a flurry of fifty films. She acted in a number of Tamil movies. Her performance in Pushpak and Agni Natchathiram are unforgettable. She acted with her future husband Akkineni Nagarjuna in hits like Nirnayam and Siva. The latter was a mega blockbuster and brought her wider fame and recognition. She has acted with iconic actors like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Mammootty and Mohan Lal, Prabhu.

She has also acted with Prabhu, Mohan, Sathyaraj in Tamil, Kumar Bangarappa and V. Ravichandran in Kannada, Suresh Gopi in Malayalam and Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Rajashekar in Telugu among several others. Her Hindi co-stars were Mithun Chakraborty, Vinod Khanna and Aditya Pancholi. She has worked with acclaimed directors like Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma. She quit acting in 1992 following her marriage to Nagarjuna, but made a comeback in 2012 with the Telugu film Life is Beautiful. She received a CineMAA Award for Best Outstanding Actress and Telugu category Film Fare Award for best supporting actress in 2013 for Life is Beautiful.

Personal life

Amala is married to Telugu Film actor Akkineni Nagarjuna in 1992 and the couple have a son, Akhil and lives in Hyderabad . She is the step-mother of actor Naga Chaitanya Akkineni. Amala is Co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a non-government organization (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights. She is a vegan and an environmentalist. She works with 16 Non Governmental and Governmental organizations to promote social issues and animal welfare. Amala practices Vipassana meditation, the teaching of the Buddha, as taught by S.N.Goenka . She studied Yoga in the Krishnamacharya Yoga tradition at Chennai.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

• 1991 : Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Malayalam) - Ulladakkam
• 2012 : Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu - Life Is Beautiful

CineMAA Awards

• 2012 : Best Outstanding Actress - Life Is Beautiful

Filmography

Tamil movies

Year	Film	Co-stars
1986	Mythili Ennai Kaathali	T. Rajendar
	Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu	Mohan, Radha
	Panneer Nathigal	Sivakumar
	Kanne Kaniyamuthe	Rahman
	Oru Iniya Udhayam	Vijayakanth
	Unnai Ondru Ketpen	Mohan
1987	Velaikaran	Rajinikanth
	Poopoova Poothirukku	Prabhu
	Koottu Puzhukkal	Raghuvaran
	Vedham Pudhithu	Sathyaraj
	Kavithai Pada Neramillai	Raguvaran
	Idhu Oru Thodarkathai	Mohan
	Pesum Padam	Kamal Hassan
1988	Agni Natchathiram	Prabhu, Karthik
	Kodi Parakuthu	Rajinikanth
	Sathya	Kamal Hassan
	Jeeva	Sathyaraj
	Illam	Sivakumar
	Kaliyugam	Prabhu
1989	Mappillai	Rajinikanth
	Varam	Prabhu
	Nalaya Manithan	Prabhu
	Uthama Purushan	Prabhu
	Vetri Vizha	Kamal Hassan, Prabhu
1990	Pudhu Padagan	Vijaykanth
	Mounam Sammadham	Mammooty, Y. Gee. Mahendra
1991	Vaasalile Oru Vennila	Nizhalgal Ravi
	Karpura Mullai	Raja

Telugu movies

Year	Film	Co-star	Role
1987	Kirai Dada	Nagarjuna
1988	Raktha Tilakam	Venkatesh
	Chinna Babu	Nagarjuna
1989	Siva	Nagarjuna
1990	Raja Vikramarka	Chiranjeevi
	Prema Yuddham	Nagarjuna
	Aggiramudu	Venkatesh
1991	Nirnayam	Nagarjuna
1993	Aagraham	Rajashekar
2012	Life is Beautiful
2014	Manam	Nagarjuna	Cameo

Hindi movies

Year	Film	Co-star
1988	Dayavan	Aditya Pancholi
	Kab Tak Chupe Rahungi	Aditya Pancholi
	Pushpak	Kamal Haasan
1989	Dost	Mithun Chakraborty
	Jurrat	Kumar Gaurav
1990	Shiva	Nagarjuna
2013	Listen... Amaya

Malayalam movies

Year	Film	Co-star	Role
1988	Pushppakavimaanam	KamalHassan
1991	Ente Sooryaputhrikku	Suresh Gopi	Maya Vinodini
1991	Ulladakkam	Mohanlal	Reshma

Kannada movies

Year	Film	Co-star
1988	Pushpaka Vimana	Kamal Hassan
1990	Bannada Gejje	V. Ravichandran
1991	Ksheera Saagara	Kumar Bangarappa
	Belliyappa Bangarappa	Kumar Bangarappa

Television

Year	Series/Show	Role	Language	Channel
2010	Super Mom [1]	Judge	Tamil	STAR Vijay
2014-	Uyirmai		Tamil	Zee Tamil

Small Screen Presence: Amala Akkineni is stated to have signed for a Telugu serial. Full details are yet to be revealed to the media.