| Sumithra | |
| Birth Place: | Thrissur, Kerala, India |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Yearsactive: | 1972–present |
| Spouse: | [1] |
| Children: | Umashankari Nakshatra[2] [3] |
Sumithra is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu language films. She acted as the lead heroine in films between 1974 and 1985. She became well known for her roles as a mother the 1990s onwards.
Sumithra was born to Raghavan Nair and Janaki at Thrissur, Kerala.[4] She has three brothers, her father was working in an oil refining company. When she was doing her schooling, she learnt dance from Murugappan Master, who was the guide to actress K. R. Vijaya at that time. Sumithra is a good classical dancer.
A 19-year old Sumithra started her career in a small role in the Malayalam film Nrithasala (1972); director A. B. Raj is the first to have noticed Sumithra's talent. A year later Sumithra made her debut as heroine in the Malayalam film Nirmalayam. She has acted in over 200 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. In Tamil, Avalum Penn Thaane (1974) was her first movie. In Kannada, her first movie was Mugiyada Kathe (1975) which is known for the evergreen song Kangalu Vandane Helide. She has acted with several leading heroes such as Vishnuvardhan and Rajesh in Kannada and Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Sivakumar, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan in Tamil. Sumithra has acted as heroine with Rajani and Kamal and later as mother to them as well. She's performed supporting roles in hundreds of Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu movies till date.
She was married to noted Kannada film director D. Rajendra Babu (since 1980) and has two daughters Umashankari (born in 1982) and Nakshatra (born in 1990). Umashankari made her entry as lead heroine through the Kannada movie Uppi Dada M.B.B.S. and has also acted in Chikkamma telecast on Udaya TV. Nakshatra debuted as lead actress in the Tamil movie Doo.
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