J. Jayalalitha was originally an actress who turned into a politician later on. She was born on February 24, 1948 and was named as Komalavalli by her parents Jayaram and Sandhiya. She had her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls High School at Bangalore and Church Park Convent, Chennai. She excelled in education that she was honored with scholarship to continue her higher education but the financial difficulties of her family made her continue her career in the film industry.

J. Jayalalitha first made her appearance in the Kannada film Chinnada Gombe when she was just 15 and later showed her face in Telugu and Tamil films also. Her first film in Tamil was Vennira Aadai. Her partnership with MGR in the film Aayirathil Oruvan and many other films later on made her entry into politics. As she was well versed in Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Mohini Attam, she could make a brilliant career in film industry.

She was made as the secretary of AIADMK and in 1984 she was nominated as member of Rajya Sabha. This made her entry into Tamil Nadu politics. She became the political disciple of MGR and after his death the AIADMK broke into two, and the party headed by J. Jayalalitha was opposed by that of Janaki Ramachandran. She was first elected legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu in the year 1989.

She was elected as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the year 1991 and continued in the office for five years. She was held from participating in the election of 2001 due to the suit filed against her for illegally acquiring the property belonging to TANSI. Later this was resolved and she stood in the mid-term poll in the Andipatti constituency and won. In this time, she had to face lots of controversies and was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2001 to 2006 though she could not be in the office in the time period between 21 - 03 - 21 and 02 - 03 - 2002 until the filed suit is cleared.  Again after a lapse of five years she grabbed the seat of Chief Minister in the year May 2011.

J. Jayalalitha was affectionately called as Ammu, Amma, and Puratchi thalaivi. Her welfare measures for women include Cradle Baby Scheme and All Women Police Station. She won Film fare Best Actress Award thrice and Honorary Doctorate Degree four times and Doctor of Letters twice. She got Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamil Nadu in 1972.

Her life in her own words: “My mother dominated one third of my life and the next major part was dominated by MGR. Now I have the remaining part for myself but I have to fulfill some duties and responsibilities”.