Asin Thottumkal is an award-winning Indian film actress who appears in various regional Indian movies. She is among the most popular actresses in the film industry.
Making her acting debut in Sathyan Anthikkad's Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (2001), Asin had her first commercial success with Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu Actress for the film.
After a number of critically and commercially successful films, she received her second South Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in her second Tamil film, Ghajini (2005). She played the lead female roles in two consecutive top grossers, Ghajini (2005) which is her biggest commercial success to date, and the action comedy Varalaru (2006) and this way has established herself as one of the most prominent leading actresses of South Indian cinema. More recently, Asin has been making a debut in Bollywood, in Ghajini, the remake of its Tamil namesake.
Asin was a business woman before coming to the acting career.
Asin Thottumkal debuted in the Malayalam film Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. Her breakthrough as an actress came with her first Telugu language film when she played the role of a Tamil girl in the successful Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja.
Initially many in the Tamil industry considered her to be a jinx as the initial movies she signed in Tamil were either canceled, delayed or faced financial problems. Although she signed Ullam Ketkumae as her first Tamil film, her first release was M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi which was a remake of her Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi. The movie went on to be one of the biggest hits in 2004 and introduced Asin to Kollywood.
Her movie Ghajini with Surya, which was released both in Tamil and Telugu, was a box office hit in both industries. She has become famous since then and went on to win the Filmfare Best Actress Award South for her role in Ghajini. Many movies followed and Asin played opposite some popular actors in South Indian Cinema, among them Surya, Vijay, Vikram and Ajith, with whom she starred in Pokiri with Vijay, Gharshana with Venkatesh, and Varalaru& Aalwar with Ajith Kumar.
Asin is also brand ambassador for various products including Fairever, Tanishq, BIG 92.7 FM, Spinz, Parachute, Colgate and Mirinda. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai alongside many other co-stars.
She rejected Surya's Sillunu Oru Kaadhal even after being offered three songs as she thought her role in the movie had not much scope. Her part went to Bhumika Chawla. She had previously opted out of Madhavan's Thambi due to tight scheduling.
Her next movie for release Dasavatharam opposite Kamal Haasan and it will be dubbed in 8 languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Marathi and Hindi.
She started her schooling in Naval Public School, Kochin. She has completed her B.A. English Literature at St. Teresa's College, Kochi. She has shifted from her home town Kochi to Chennai, where she stays on Harrington Road. Before becoming an actress, she was a part-time model and a businesswoman.
