Leelavathi

Leelavathi Biography

Leelavathi is a former leading actress of south Indian film industry who worked in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil movies. She has acted in more than 600 films of which 400 movies belong to Kannada language and has completed 50 years in her acting career. She has been paired with almost all leading heroes of her time and has worked with Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, M. G. Ramachandran, N. T. Rama Rao, Sivaji Ganeshan, Gemini Ganesan, Shankar Nag, Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, V Ravichandran and many more. Nagarahavu and Avargal are regarded as her most memorable performances. She received "Rajkumar Award" in 1999. She has also won several state awards for her performance.

She was born as Leela Kiran in 1938 at Belthangady, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka. She moved to Mysore to pursue a career in acting and got her first bit role in Chanchala Kumari followed by Shanker Singh’s Naga Kannika. She joined the Mahalinga Bhagavathar team Sri Sahitya Samrajya Drama troupe and in 1958 got the role in Kannada movie Bhakta Prahlada aside Rajkumar, which was her first memorable role. Mangalya Yoga, the same year marked her successful debut as a full-fledged actress. Then she appeared in movies like Raja Malaya Simhan, Abba! A Hudgi, Dharma Vijaya, Dasavathara etc. Yet in all these movies she was offered character roles.

In 1960, Rani Honnamma was released and after that there was no turning back. She played lead role in this movie and very soon became one of the top actresses of south Indian film industry. In the movie Bhoodana released in 1962, she worked aside Udaya Kumar, Rajkumar, Kalyan Kumar – often referred to as “Kumara Thrayaru” of the Kannada cinema. Santha Thukaram, Kantheradhu Nodu, Kaivara Mahatme, Gali Gopura, Kanyarathna, Kulavadhu, Veera Kesari and Mana Mechchida Madadhi are her memorable movies as an actress and later on, she began to accept supporting roles.

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Updated: February 19, 2014