Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), professionally credited as Priyamani, is an Indian film actress and former model, who works in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language films. She has established a career in regional Indian films, and is the recipient of a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards in different-language films.
Priyamani, born and raised in Bangalore, worked as a model before pursuing a career in films. In 2002, she made her acting debut with a leading role in the Telugu film Evare Atagaadu (2003), a box-office flop. Priyamani gained widespread recognition for her role as village girl Muththazhagu in the Tamil romantic drama Paruthiveeran in 2007, receiving a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for her performance. During the same year, she achieved commercial success in Telugu cinema with S. S. Rajamouli-directed fantasy-action comedy Yamadonga.
In 2008, Priyamani received further critical acclaim for her role as Malavika in the Malayalam romance Thirakkatha–and won a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam. Her first role in the Kannada film came the following year, with the romantic comedy Raam, which proved to be a major critical and commercial success. Priyamani made her Hindi film debut through Mani Ratnam's bilingual in Tamil and Hindi epic adventure films, titled Raavan and Raavanan respectively.
In 2012, her portrayal of conjoined twins in the multilingual film Chaarulatha, based on the Thai film Alone, gained critical praise and a third Best Actress award at Filmfare. She received further success for her role in the Telugu thriller film Mana Oori Ramayanam (2016), which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare.
