Shriya Saran (born September 11, 1982) is an Indian film actress. She began her career acting in music videos, while also attending an acting studio to follow her dream to act. After her debut in 2001 with Ishtam, she gained Telugu cinema's attention in 2002 by playing the role of Bhanu in Santhosham, her first major hit. Following the film, she appeared in several Telugu films with prominent actors, whilst, also making in-roads inBollywood as well as the Tamil film industry. In 2007, Saran became a national figure after her performance alongside Rajinikanth in Sivaji: The Boss , after which she has signed several Hindi, Tamil and also aHollywood film. She is the first actress to pair up with father and son-in-law.
Saran performs predominantly in leading heroine roles in high-budget and major studio films, ranging fromromantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. Following commercial successes withSanthosham (2002) , Tagore (2003), Sivaji: The Boss (2007) is the highest grosser in the indian film history and Kanthaswamy(2009) she established herself as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industry. Her other major box office film which established her career is Nuvve Nuvve (2002), Nenunnanu(2003) and Chatrapathi (2005) which earned her a Filmfare best actress in Telugu,Thiruvilayadal Arambam (2006), Azhagiya Tamil Magan (2007) and Kutty (2010) in Tamil,Awaarapan (2007) which earned her Filmfare nomination for best debut actress and Mission Istaanbul (2008) in Hindi and Pokkiri Raja (2010) which is her debut film in Malayalam. Shriya Saran is now considered the sexy bombshell of Tamil films.