Meera Jasmine

Biography

Jasmine Mary Joseph, known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada language films. Meera made her debut in 2001 with the Lohithadas film Soothradharan. She went on to star in various commercial and critically successful films in South Indian languages making her one of the successful actresses of the 2000s.

She won the National Film Award for Best Actress in 2004 for her role in Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam, and is a two-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She also received the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

She rose to fame in Malayalam cinema with the film Kasthooriman directed by her mentor Lohithadas, where she played a happy-go-lucky yet emotionally complex character. She received her first Filmfare award for her performance in Kasthooriman. The film was a success at the box office, running for 100 days. 

She acted in T. V. Chandran's acclaimed Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam the same year. She played a 15-year-old Muslim girl who was forced to marry an older man, for which she was awarded a State Award and the National Award in addition to several other awards. It was followed by her performance as Raziya in Perumazhakkalam alongside Kavya Madhavan.

In the film Achuvinte Amma (2005), she enacted the young, adorable character Achu. She then paired with Mohanlal in Rasathanthram (2006). She played as a girl pretending to be a boy due to the pressure of circumstances in the film's first half. 

The film went on to become a commercial success. Her next film with Dileep – Vinodayathra, which again was directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. She was next featured opposite Mammootty in the critically acclaimed film Ore Kadal. The film was showcased in film festivals and won awards. Her performance as an innocent middle-class woman won praise from audiences. 

Media quoted her: “Matching step with the megastar in this histrionic race is Meera Jasmine, who amazes you with a stunning delineation of her difficult role”. Her next film was Calcutta News with Dileep. Blessy, who introduced her to the film field, was the director of Calcutta News. 

In Innathe Chintha Vishayam (2008), she collaborated with Sathyan Anthikkad for his fourth consecutive film, again opposite Mohanlal, but failed to succeed. Her next films Minnaminnikoottam with Kamal and Rathri Mazha with Lenin Rajendran, which were released after a long post-production delay, were box office failures.