Ambika (actress)

Ambika was born on 24 May 1962 to Kunjan Nair and Sarasamma at Kallara village located in Trivandrum district. Her mother Kallara Sarasamma was Mahila Congress leader during 2014. She has two younger sisters, Radha and Mallika, and two younger brothers, Arjun and Suresh.. She had her primary education till fourth from L.M. L.P.S. Arivarikuzhi School, fifth to seventh from Govt. Higher Secondary School Kallara and from eightth till SSLC from Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Mithirmala, Thrivananthapuram. She pursued bachelors in arts by correspondense and also she studied at Vedas college, Kallara for a while.

Ambika got married to U.S based business man Shinu John in 1988 and settled in U.S. The couple have 2 sons, Ramkeshav and Rishikesh. They later got seperated and divorced in 1997. After her divorce, she returns to india, and started to resume her acting career in 1997. Later she married Actor Ravikanth in 2000 which also ended divorce in 2003. currently she resided in Chennai, India.

Ambika started her career as a child artist and later as main heroine at her age of 16 in 1979 and acted in more than 200 South Indian films. Her career as a heroine started with the Malayalam movie Seetha, which only released really late in her career. But with films like Neelathaamara (which was made again in 2009) and Lejjavathi, she became a busy actress in a couple of years not only in Malayalam, but also in Tamil and Kannada.

K. Bhagyaraj introduced Ambika in his movie Antha Ezhu Naatkal. She has been acted alongside Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth in many movies and appeared in glamorous roles in movies such as Kaakki Sattai, Vikram, Kadhal Parisu, Padikkadhavan and Maaveeran. Most of her films have been with actors such as Rajinikanth, Shankar, Mohanlal, Ambarish, Vishnuvardhan, Rajkumar, Mammootty and Vijayakanth.

She had a very successful career in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam movies throughout the 1980s. In Tamil and Malayalam, she took on a few bold roles that showcased her versatility and talent. In Kannada, however, she appeared in many roles and songs that were characteristic by being erotic yet understated. Her hot rain songs with Vishnuvardhan are shown frequently in Midnight Masala TV program and are considered groundbreaking in terms of bold, stunning and revealing in an otherwise conservative industry.

In Tamil, Ambika shot to fame with the movie Kakki Chattai. In the zenith of her career she was paired in the same movie with her sister Radha in Kadhal Parisu, where both actresses demonstrated their acting prowess by taking on roles of two young, beautiful sisters, who had strong, yet conflicting personalities.

After she got divorced, she returned to India from U.S later in 1997 and started acting again in films like Periyamanushan with Sathyaraj in a glamorous role, Maa Naanaki Pelli in Telugu and with Krishnam raju and Simmadamari in Kannada. She acted as heroine in Vikaraman’s project Mariyathai, in which Vijayakanth acted in father and son roles along with Meena and Meera Jasmin. She acted in Malayalam films like Angel John with Mohanlal, Thanthonni, Sadgamaya and is currently more active doing TV serials.

She has acted in many advertisements. She is a designer too. She has judged many reality shows also. In a film called Medulla Oblangatta (2014) she has done lyrics works too.

• 1984 Kalaimaamani Award- Vaazhkai (film)
• Cinema Express
• Film critics Award Enkeyo Ketta Kural

In order of languages in which she acted the most to least number of films.

Malayalam

Tamil

Kannada

Telugu

Serials

• Summer in america(Kairali TV)
• Kanalpoovu(Jeevan TV)
• Preethiyinda(Star Suvarna) - Kannada
• Avakashikal (Surya TV)
• Sreepadmanabham (Amrita TV)
• Aparichitha (Amrita TV)

Reality shows as a Judge

• Veruthe alla bharya season 2(Mazhavil Manorama) as Judge
• Veruthe alla bharya season 3(Mazhavil Manorama) as Judge
• Uggram Ujjwalam Season 2 (Mazhavil Manorama) as Judge
• Malayali Veetamma (Flowers TV) as Judge
• Dancing Khilladies (Zee Tamil) as Judge - Tamil