Nithya Menen

Biography

Nithya Menen(born 8 April 1990) is an Indian actress and singer who has acted predominately in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. She appeared first on-screen as a child, when she was eight, in the French-Indian English film, Hanuman (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu's character.

At the age of 15, she appeared in a supporting role in the Kannada film 7 O'Clock, which was released in 2006. She has played leading roles in Malayalam in Aakasha Gopuram (2008), in Telugu in Ala Modalaindi (2011), and in Tamil with Nootrenbadhu (2011). Her Hindi debut was Mission Mangal (2019).

Nithya Menen was born on 8 April 1990 in Bangalore to Malayali parents who settled in Karnataka. Her father hails from Perambra in Kozhikode district and her mother hails from Palakkad district in Kerala. She was educated at Poorna Prajna School and Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

She has said that she initially wished to become a journalist, but ultimately found journalism unappealing, so she pivoted to filmmaking and enrolled in a cinematography course at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

During the school's entrance exam, she met B. V. Nandini Reddy, who convinced Menen to take up acting. Nithya is a polyglot and can speak six languages including Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and English.

As a child, Menen had acted in a French-Indian English film named Hanuman, at the age of 8, playing the younger sister to Tabu's character.

In 1998, Menen started her acting career as a child artiste in Hanuman (1998). She also was a part of the Hindi-language soap opera Choti Maa - Ek Anokha Bandhan. She played a supporting role in the Kannada film 7 O'Clock.

The 2008 off-beat film Aakasha Gopuram, directed by K. P. Kumaran, marked her Malayalam debut in a leading role, in which she was paired with Mohanlal. She was in the midst of her 12th class exams when she was offered the role after Mohanlal had spotted her on the front cover of a tourism magazine, Stark World Kerala.

Her performance was well received, with critics writing that she shows "sparkle in her debut venture" and "makes her entry in an impressive role", though the film was a financial failure.

In 2020, Menon starred alongside Udhayanidhi Stalin in Mysskin's Psycho, where she played Kamala Das, a foul-mouthed quadriplegic ex-police officer. The same year, she made her OTT debut in the Amazon Prime series Breathe: Into the Shadows alongside Abhishek Bachchan, for which she received her first nomination for 'Best Actor, Series (Female): Drama' at the Filmfare OTT Awards.

Menen starred in three Telugu films in 2021. She played a spirit named Maya in Ninnila Ninnila with Ashok Selvan and Ritu Varma. Firstpost wrote, “The big surprise in the film is Nithya whose impishness in the story is unlike anything else that she has portrayed over the years, and her on-screen chemistry with Selvan is a delight.” Her next film Skylab, marked her first film as a producer. She played a singer in her year's final film Gamanam

Ankur Pathak of HuffPost said that her filmography is "filled with experiments" and noted, “The actor has taken risks throughout her career. Menen has ensured that she's unforgettable even in cameos.”

Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu said that she shows "shown a natural flair for acting" and noted that she has worked in a variety of genres from – breezy romance to period drama to out-of-the-box projects.

Latha Srinivasan of The New Indian Express noted, “Nithya Menen slips into her character's skin with effortless ease.” Nibandh Vinod of News18 termed her an "accomplished actress and singer" who has established a career in five industries.