Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991)[1] is an Indian actress and producer who predominantly appears in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. Starting her career acting debut in the Malayalam film Neelathamara (2009), in a minor supporting role, she later appeared as the lead actress role in the Tamil film Mynaa (2010).[2]
Over the years, she's been a part of such commercially successful films like Oru Indian Pranayakadha, Deiva Tirumagal, Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal, Naayak, Run Baby Run, Iddarammayilatho, VIP, Pasanga 2, Hebbuli, Ratsasan, and the critically acclaimed Aadujeevitham. [3]
Early life
Amala Paul was born on 26 October 1991 in Ernakulam, Kerala.[1][4] Amala belongs to a Syro-Malabar Catholic Syrian Christian family,[5][6] and was born to Paul Varghese (d. 2017) and Annice Paul.[7] Her brother Abijith Paul also appeared in films following Amala's entry into the film industry.
After completing her schooling from Nirmala Higher Secondary School Aluva,[8][9] she took a sabbatical to begin a career in films, but has since joined St. Teresa's College in Kochi, to pursue a B.A. degree in English.[10][11]
Amala's father had been strictly against Amala pursuing an acting career, but was forced to accept her decision with her brother strongly backing her ambition.[10] She later claimed that she had performing arts in her, revealing that her mother was a singer and her dad was into theatre in college.[12]
Personal life
Amala had changed her on-screen name to Anakha, on director Samy's insistence, who cited that another actress, Amala had already made her name popular. However, after the failure of her 2011 film Sindhu Samaveli, she reverted to her birth name, since she felt that the replacement had brought her bad luck.[10] Her brother Abhijith Paul is also an actor and appeared in minor roles in a few films.[48]
As early as 2011, when Amala was working on Deiva Thirumagal, she was romantically linked to director A. L. Vijay, but denied that the pair were dating.[49] On 7 June 2014, she got engaged to Vijay at Aluva in Kochi.[50] The couple got married on 12 June 2014 at Mayor Ramanathan Chettiar Hall, Chennai.[51][52] In 2016, Amala and Vijay filed for a divorce due to disagreement between her and her in-laws on continuing her acting career.[53][54] They divorced in 2017.[55]
She later married entrepreneur Jagat Desai in 2023.[56]They have a son named Ilai born on 11th June 2024.[57]
In January 2018, Amala was arrested for tax evasion. A crime branch investigation had found that she had registered her luxury car in Puducherry with fake documents.[58][59] Later, the case was closed citing jurisdictional issues.[60]
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Amala is considered among the highest-paid Malayalam actresses.[61] She was named the Kochi Times Most Desirable Women in 2013 and was placed 3rd in the list, in 2014.[62][63] Her performance in Aadai, is regarded as one of the "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade" by Film Companion.[64]
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