Keerthy Suresh


Keerthy Suresh is an Indian film actress who appears predominantly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for portraying actress Savitri in the biopic Mahanati.
Keerthy is the daughter of producer G. Suresh Kumar and actress Menaka. Keerthy began acting as a child actress in the early 2000s and returned to films after studying fashion design. She had her first lead role in the 2013 Malayalam film Geethaanjali. She went on to star in films such as Ring Master, Idhu Enna Maayam, Rajini Murugan, Remo, Nenu Sailaja, Bairavaa, Nenu Local, Thaana Serndha Kootam, Mahanati, Sandakozhi 2 and Sarkar.

Early life

Keerthy was born to Malayalam film producer and director G. Suresh Kumar and Tamil actress Menaka. She has an elder sister Revathy Suresh. Until class four, Keerthy did her schooling in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She then studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram before coming back to Chennai to join the Pearl Academy, where she completed her degree in fashion design. She also spent time on an exchange program in Scotland for four months, before completing a two-month internship in London. Despite making a career in acting, she has stated that she was also "seriously considering a career in designing". Keerthy also plays the violin.

Career

In the early 2000s, Keerthy worked as a child actress in a few of her father's productions, such as Pilots, Achaneyanenikkishtam and Kuberan and some television serials. 11 years after Kuberan, she made her debut as a lead actress in Priyadarshan's horror film Geethaanjali, in which she had a dual role. She was still studying during that time and shot for Geethanjali during her semester break. Reviews on the film and her performance were mixed, with Sify writing that she "does put in some effort but makes only a limited impression in a double role", while Rediff wrote that she "has got a plum role but whether she impresses with her acting prowess is another matter". In 2014, Keerthy had her next release Ring Master, directed by Rafi of Rafi Mecartin duo, in which she shared screen space with Dileep. She played a blind girl, which she said was much more challenging than her double role in Geethanjali. The film was a commercial success, being termed a "super hit" by Sify.
In 2014, Keerthy accepted her first projects outside of Malayalam and signed on to appear in several Tamil film projects simultaneously. Her first film release was A. L. Vijay's romantic comedy Idhu Enna Maayam, opposite Vikram Prabhu, though the film did not perform well at the box office. Her busy schedule throughout 2015 meant that she had to opt out of films which she had already started working on, including Krishna's Maane Thaene Paeye and Deekay's Kavalai Vendam, in order to accommodate bigger projects. She consequently worked on two films with Sivakarthikeyan in quick succession, Rajini Murugan and Remo, while also playing the lead role in Prabhu Solomon's Thodari, alongside Dhanush. Her Telugu debut film was planned to be Ainaa Ishtam Nuvvu but it was canceled. Subsequently, the debut was the 2016 film Nenu Sailaja with actor Ram Pothineni. In January 2017, Keerthy appeared in Bairavaa, opposite actor Vijay and directed by Bharathan. She also appeared in Tamil film Paambhu Sattai and Telugu film Nenu Local in 2017.
In early 2018, she appeared in Agnyaathavaasi and Thaana Serndha Kootam. She also acted in Nag Ashwin's Telugu-Tamil bilingual epic Mahanati where she portrayed the late southern actress Savitri and for which her performance has received critical acclaim. In late 2018, she appeared in three consecutive commercial films, Saamy 2 opposite Vikram, Sandakozhi 2 opposite Vishal, and Sarkar starring Vijay, directed by AR Murugadoss.
In mid-2019, she made a cameo appearance in the Nagarjuna starrer Manmadhudu 2, which was directed by Rahul Ravindran.
In 2020, she appeared in the thriller film Penguin, which released on Amazon Prime due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
As of 2020, she has signed on to appear in multiple projects such as a Malayalam film alongside Mohanlal and directed by Priyadarshan, and three Telugu films: Miss India, Good Luck Sakhi and Rang De opposite Nithiin. She has also announced that she is one of the female leads in Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe directed by Siva.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
2000PilotsChurch kidMalayalamChild artist
2001AchaneyanenikkishtamKunjunni's classmateMalayalamChild artist
2002KuberanSiddharth's adopted childMalayalamChild artist
2013GeethaanjaliGeetha, AnjaliMalayalam
2014Ring MasterKarthikaMalayalam
2015Idhu Enna MaayamMayaTamil
2016Nenu SailajaSailajaTelugu
2016Rajini MuruganKarthika DeviTamil
2016ThodariSarojaTamil
2016RemoKavyaTamil
2017BairavaaMalarvizhiTamil
2017Paambhu SattaiVeniTamil
2017Nenu LocalKeerthiTelugu
2018AgnyaathavaasiSukumariTelugu
2018Thaanaa Serndha KoottamMadhuTamil
2018MahanatiSavitriTelugu
2018Nadigaiyar ThilagamSavitriTamil
2018Seema RajaBhoomiTamilCameo appearance
2018Saamy SquareDiyaTamilAlso singer for "Pudhu Metro Rail"
2018Sandakozhi 2SembaruthiTamil
2018SarkarNilaTamil
2019Manmadhudu 2SumaTeluguCameo appearance
2020PenguinRhythmTamil
Telugu		Amazon Prime film
2020 AarchaMalayalamPost-production
2020Miss India ManasaTeluguPost- production
2020Good Luck Sakhi SakhiTeluguFilming
2020Annaatthe TamilFilming
2021Rang De AnuFilming
2021-----

Television

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
20143rd South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Female Debut – MalayalamGeethaanjali
201416th Asianet Film AwardsBest New Face of the yearGeethaanjali
2015Edison AwardsBest Female Rising StarIdhu Enna Maayam
20165th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Female Debut - TamilIdhu Enna Maayam
201764th Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TeluguNenu Sailaja
20176th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Debut Actress – TeluguNenu Sailaja
2017Zee Telugu Golden AwardsBest Debut ActressNenu Sailaja
2017Zee Telugu Golden AwardsEntertainer Of The YearNenu Sailaja
2018Indian Film Festival of MelbourneBest ActressMahanati
2019Norway Tamil Film Festival AwardsBest ActressNadigaiyar Thilagam
2019Norway Tamil Film Festival AwardsSpecial Jury AwardNadigaiyar Thilagam
2019Edison AwardsBest ActressNadigaiyar Thilagam
2019National Film AwardsNational Film Award for Best ActressMahanati
2019Zee Cine Awards – TeluguBest ActressMahanati
20198th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress – TeluguMahanati
2019TSR – TV9 National Film AwardsBest ActressMahanati
201966th Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TeluguMahanati