Meera Jasmine facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Meera Jasmine
Born	Jasmine Mary Joseph (1982-02-15) 15 February 1982 (age 42) Thiruvalla, Kerala, India
Occupation	Film actress
Years active	2001–present
Awards	National Film Award for Best Actress Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress
Honours	Kalaimamani (2009)

Jasmine Mary Joseph, known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films. Meera made her debut in 2001 with the Lohithadas film Soothradharan. She went on to star in various commercial and critically successful films in south Indian languages making her one of the successful actresses of the 2000s.

She won the National Film Award for Best Actress in 2004 for her role in Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam, and is a two-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She also received the Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Early life

Meera Jasmine was born in Kuttapuzha village, Thiruvalla, Kerala to Joseph and Aleyamma. She was the fourth of five children.

She has two sisters, Jiby Sara Joseph and Jeny Susan Joseph, who has also acted in films, and two brothers, one of them, George worked as an assistant cinematographer.

She completed her schooling in Bala Vihar, Thiruvalla and Marthoma Residential School, Thiruvalla. She appeared for her Higher Secondary Exams in March 2000. She had enrolled for a BSc degree in Zoology at Assumption College, Changanassery and completed nearly three months when she was spotted by director Blessy (who was then an assistant director to director Lohithadas) and offered a role in Soothradharan.

Meera had initially wanted to study and become a doctor and never had dreamed of becoming a film star. She stated, "I was just an ordinary girl. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine being in films. I had not acted even in school plays. I never was the artistic type, I never thought I could dance, and I had not even thought of myself as being beautiful". She also said that Lohithadas "is like a father figure and my guru. He initiated me into films with Soothradharan and I owe it all to him".

Career

Malayalam

Meera Jasmine made her debut in the Malayalam film Soothradharan. Her second film was Gramophone, directed by Kamal, in which she appeared alongside Navya Nair and Dileep. Her role as a Jewish girl was appreciated by Malayalam critics. Her third film was Swapnakkoodu, a romantic comedy alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kunchako Boban, Jayasurya, and Bhavana under director Kamal. Her performance was appreciated and the film was a high commercial success. Among the five main characters, the one who scored the most was again Meera.

She rose to fame in Malayalam cinema with the film Kasthooriman directed by her mentor Lohithadas, where she played a happy go lucky yet emotionally complex character. She received her first Filmfare award for her performance in Kasthooriman. The film was a success at the box office, running for 100 days. The same year, she acted in T. V. Chandran's acclaimed Padam Onnu Oru Vilapam. She played a 15-year-old Muslim girl who was forced to marry an older man, for which she was awarded a State Award and the National Award in addition with several other awards. It was followed by her performance as Raziya in Perumazhakkalam alongside Kavya Madhavan.

In the film Achuvinte Amma (2005), she enacted the young, adorable character Achu. She then paired with Mohanlal in Rasathanthram (2006). She played as a girl pretending to be a boy due to the pressure of circumstances in the first half of the film . The film went on to become a commercial success. Her next film with Dileep – Vinodayathra, which again was directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. She was next featured opposite Mammootty in the critically acclaimed film Ore Kadal. The film was showcased in film festivals and won awards. Her performance as an innocent middle-class woman won praise from audiences. Media quoted her as, "Matching step with the megastar in this histrionic race is Meera Jasmine, who amazes you with a stunning delineation of her difficult role" . Her next film was Calcutta News with Dileep. Blessy, who introduced her to film field, was the director of Calcutta News. In Innathe Chintha Vishayam (2008), she collaborated with Sathyan Anthikkad for his fourth consecutive film, again opposite Mohanlal, but failed to succeed. Her next films Minnaminnikoottam with Kamal and Rathri Mazha with Lenin Rajendran, which released after a long post-production delay, were box office failures.

More than a year later, she played the role of a playback singer in Rajeev Anchal's Paattinte Palazhy. Though the film was commercially not successful, her character was noted and her performance gave her a comeback. Her next film, Four Friends, was a multi-starrer directed by Saji Surendran. She played the role of a cancer patient in this film. In the 2011 film Mohabbat, she played the lead role opposite Anand Michael and Munna.

After a brief hiatus, she began committing films by late 2012. ..... She acted opposite Mohanlal in Siddique's comedy film Ladies and Gentleman. Her latest project is Shajiyem's Ms. Lekha Tharoor Kanunnathu, a fantasy film. In 2014, she starred opposite Jayaram in Sugeeth's family film, Onnum Mindathe, but the film failed at the box office. She signed up for Ithinumappuram, a period film based in the 1970s, in which she plays a highly orthodox and rich Nair woman who falls in love with someone from a lower caste and gets married against her parents' will.

After that, she acted in the movie Mazhaneerthullikal directed by V. K. Prakash but the movie was not released. In 2016, she co-starred with Anoop Menon, Joju George and Kaniha in the crime thriller 10 Kalpanakal directed by Don Max, but the film was not a theatrical success. However, the film received rave reviews from critics and was praised for its script, direction and cast.

In 2018, Meera made a comeback after a gap of two years with a guest appearance in Kalidas Jayaram starrer Poomaram directed by Abrid Shine. After a long hiatus, in 2022 Meera joined hands with Sathyan Anthikad for a family entertainer 'Makal' alongside Jayaram. The film received decent reviews and Meera was praised for her subtle act.

Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

Meera Jasmine's Tamil debut was Run, directed by Lingusamy, which became a high success in Tamil Nadu and made her a sought-after actress. The success of Run and gave her the chance to work with the established actors of the Tamil film industry.Though her successive films did not fare as well, she was noticed by director Mani Ratnam who gave her a role in Aayutha Ezhuthu. She later appeared in N. Lingusamy's Sandakozhi and SS Stanley's Mercury Pookkal. Her latest Tamil film, Mambattiyan got released in December 2011.

Meera Jasmine became noted in the Telugu film industry with Run, the dubbed version of the same-titled Tamil film. She was seen in the Telugu films in 2004 with Ammayi Bagundi and Gudumba Shankar, also entered Kannada cinema by co-starring with Puneet Rajkumar in Maurya. Her Kannada film Arasu again with Puneet Rajkumar and Ramya was a hit. Her other Kannada films include Devaru Kotta Thangi and Ijjodu. .....

Meera Jasmine's biggest commercial success in Telugu remains Bhadra with Ravi Teja in the male lead. Her other Telugu films are Raraju, Maharadhi, Yamagola Malli Modalayindi, Gorintaku and Maa Ayana Chanti Pilladu, in which she is paired for a second time with Sivaji.

Personal life

In 2008, she said in an interview that she will be marrying Mandolin Rajesh, "but not for the next two or three years". Meera married to Anil John Titus on 9 February 2014 who works as an engineer in Dubai.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

List of Meera Jasmine film credits

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2001	Soothradharan	Shivani	Malayalam	Debut
2002	Run	Priya	Tamil	Debut in Tamil cinema
	Bala	Aarthi	Tamil
2003	Kasthoorimann	Priyamvada	Malayalam
	Pudhiya Geethai	Sushi	Tamil
	Gramophone	Jennifer/ Jenny	Malayalam
	Swapnakkoodu	Kamala	Malayalam
	Anjaneya	Divya	Tamil
	Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam	Shahina	Malayalam
	Joot	Meera	Tamil
	Chakram	Indrani	Malayalam
2004	Ammayi Bagundi	Janani, Satya	Telugu	Debut in Telugu cinema
	Aayutha Ezhuthu	Sasi	Tamil
	Maurya	Alamelu	Kannada	Debut in Kannada cinema
	Gudumba Shankar	Gowri	Telugu
	Perumazhakkalam	Raziya	Malayalam
2005	Achuvinte Amma	Ashwathy/ Achu	Malayalam
	Bhadra	Anu	Telugu
	Kasthuri Maan	Uma	Tamil
	Sandakozhi	Hema	Tamil
2006	Mercury Pookkal	Anbu Chelvi	Tamil
	Rasathanthram	Kanmani/ Velayuthankutty	Malayalam
	Raraju	Jyothi	Telugu
2007	Arasu	Aishu	Kannada
	Maharadhi	Kalyani	Telugu
	Thirumagan	Ayyakka	Tamil
	Vinodayathra	Anupama/ Anu	Malayalam
	Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram	Shweta	Tamil
	Yamagola Malli Modalayindi	Aishwarya	Telugu
	Ore Kadal	Deepti	Malayalam
2008	Calcutta News	Krishnapriya	Malayalam
	Innathe Chintha Vishayam	Kamala	Malayalam
	Nepali	Priya	Tamil
	Minnaminnikoottam	Charulatha/ Charu	Malayalam
	Rathri Mazha	Meera	Malayalam
	Gorintaku	Lakshmi	Telugu
	Maa Ayana Chanti Pilladu	Rajeswari	Telugu
2009	Mariyadhai	Chandra	Tamil
	Bangaru Babu	Meera	Telugu
	A Aa E Ee	Kalyani Chandram	Telugu
	Devaru Kotta Thangi	Lakshmi	Kannada
2010	Aakasa Ramanna	Tara	Telugu
	Sivappu Mazhai	Samyuktha	Tamil
	Ijjodu	Chenni	Kannada
	Pen Singam	Meghala	Tamil
	Hoo	Jasmine	Kannada
	Paattinte Palazhy	Veena	Malayalam
	Four Friends	Gowri	Malayalam
2011	Ilaignan	Meera	Tamil
	Mohabbat	Sajna	Malayalam
	Mambattiyan	Kannaathal	Tamil
2012	Aathi Narayana	Laila	Tamil
2013	Lisammayude Veedu	Lisamma	Malayalam
	Ladies and Gentleman	Aswathy/Achu	Malayalam
	Moksha	Moksha	Telugu
	Ms Lekha Tharoor Kaanunnathu	Lekha	Malayalam
2014	Inga Enna Solluthu	Rajeshwari	Tamil
	Vingyani	Kaveri	Tamil
	Onnum Mindathe	Syama	Malayalam
2015	Ithinumappuram	Rukmini	Malayalam
2016	Pathu Kalpanakal	Shazia Akbar	Malayalam
2018	Poomaram	Herself	Malayalam	Cameo
2022	Makal	Juliet	Malayalam
2023	Vimanam	Air Hostess Shwetha Pandit	Telugu	Cameo
	Queen Elizabeth	Elizabeth Angel Simon	Malayalam
2024	The Test	0TBA	Tamil	Filming

Awards and honours