Keerthy Suresh

Keerthy was born to film producer and director G. Suresh Kumar, who is of Malayalam heritage,[5] and actress Menaka, who is of Tamil descent.[6][7] She has an elder sister Revathy Suresh. Until class four, Keerthy did her schooling in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[8] 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.[9] 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".[10] Keerthy also plays the violin.[11]

In the early 2000s, Keerthy worked as a child actress in a few of her father's productions, such as Pilots (2000), Achaneyanenikkishtam (2001) and Kuberan (2002) and some television serials.[9][12]

11 years after Kuberan, she made her debut as a lead actress in Priyadarshan's horror film Geethaanjali,[13] in which she had a dual role. She was still studying during that time and shot for Geethanjali during her semester break.[14] 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",[15] while Rediff wrote that she "has got a plum role but whether she impresses with her acting prowess is another matter".[16] 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,[17] which she said was much more challenging than her double role in Geethanjali.[18] The film was a commercial success,[19][20] being termed a "super hit" by Sify.[21]

In 2015, 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 (2015), opposite Vikram Prabhu, though the film did not perform well at the box office.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] Her Telugu debut film was planned to be Ainaa Ishtam Nuvvu[25] but it is not released yet. 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.[26] She also appeared in Tamil film Paambhu Sattai and Telugu film Nenu Local in 2017.[27][28]

Her first release in 2018, was Agnyaathavaasi in Telugu. Her first Tamil film in 2018 was Thaana Serndha Kootam, in which she played opposite Suriya, for the very first time.[29]The film opened to positive reviews & became a Hit.[30][31] She also acted in Nag Ashwin-directed epic Mahanati where she portrayed the late southern actress Savitri and for which her performance has received critical acclaim.[32] In late 2018, she appeared in three consecutive commercial films, Saamy 2 opposite Vikram,[33] Sandakozhi 2 opposite Vishal,[34] and Sarkar starring Vijay, directed by AR Murugadoss.[35]

In mid-2019, she made a cameo appearance in the Nagarjuna starrer Manmadhudu 2, which was directed by Rahul Ravindran.[36]

In 2020, she appeared in the thriller film Penguin, which released on Amazon Prime due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in the drama film Miss India which released on Netflix.

As of 2021, she has signed on to appear in multiple projects such as a Malayalam film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham alongside Mohanlal and directed by Priyadarshan,[37] and two Telugu films: Good Luck Sakhi,[38] and Rang De opposite Nithiin.[39] She has also announced that she is one of the female leads in Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe directed by Siva.[40] In August 2020 she signed on to appear alongside director Selvaraghavan in Saani Kaayidham, which marks his acting debut.[41] In October 2020, it was announced that she was going to appear opposite Mahesh Babu in Sarkaru Vaari Paata directed by Parasuram.[42] Keerthy will also appear opposite Tovino Thomas in the Malayalam film Vaashi. [43] Her long delayed Telugu film Aina Ishtam Nuvvu is gearing up for its release. [44]