Rukmini Vijayakumar

Rukmini Vijayakumar is an Indian film actress and Bharatanatyam dancer from Bangalore, Karnataka. Along with her performances on stage, she has appeared in three Tamil films.

Rukmini Vijayakumar began her dance training at the age of eight, studying Bharatanatyam under Guru Narmada, Guru Padmini Rao and Guru Sundari Santhanam and then practiced the Karanas for several years under Guru Sundari Santhanam. Rukmini holds a BFA degree from the Boston Conservatory in Ballet and Modern Dance, while she has also been trained in jazz, tap, African, choreography, laban movement analysis, Stagecraft and Human Anatomy at the Boston Conservatory.

Furthermore, she has studied acting at the New York Film Academy, Los Angeles while also learning under director Prakash Belawadi during her stay in India. She is the Artistic Director of her dance company Raadha Kalpa, where she teaches, choreographs and creates new Bharatanatyam, Modern and experimental theater work. She is currently pursuing a Fitness Training Certification at UCLA, and a professional dancer's MFA program in Bharatanatyam at the Sastra University, Chennai under Padma Subrahmanyam.

She made her film debut playing Trishna in Bharathiraja's suspense thriller Bommalattam alongside an ensemble cast of Arjun, Nana Patekar and Kajal Aggarwal. The role feature her as a mysterious debutant actress who is hidden from the media, with the film eventually revealing that her character was actually a male, made to dress up by the director. The film opened to positive reviews, with critics labelling her performance as "definitely a surprise package". She next featured in Gandhi Krishna's 2009 romantic film Ananda Tandavam as Ratna alongside Siddharth Venugopal and Tamannaah, but the film became commercial and critical failure. Rukmini then signed up to appear in Naan, once again alongside Siddharth Venugopal, but the film ran into production and trouble and she opted against appearing in the film when it began again in 2010. Moreover, another project, Oru Naal Podhuma directed by Pratap Pothan and featuring Madhavan in the lead role, was also cancelled soon after announcement.

In 2012, Rukmini was opted for Rajinikanth's sister's role in Kochadaiyaan. The role was earlier to be enacted by Sneha, who opted out citing date issues.

Rukmini is married to Rohan Menon.