Overview
N.S. Nithya, known professionally as Nithya Menen, is an Indian actress and singer who works predominantly in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films, and has also appeared in a few Kannada films. Having featured in over 60 films, she is noted for her strong portrayals. She is a recipient of several accolades, including a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South and two Nandi Awards.
Menen began her career as a child artist in the French-Indian English film Hanuman (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu's character. She made her screen debut as a lead with the Kannada film 7 O' Clock (2006). The 2011 romance Ala Modalaindi proved to be her breakthrough and won her the Nandi Award for Best Actress. She subsequently received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde (2013).
Further success in Telugu cinema came with Ishq (2012), Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju (2015), which won her the Filmfare Critics Best Actress – Telugu, Rudhramadevi (2015), Janatha Garage (2016), Awe (2018) and Bheemla Nayak (2022). She established herself as a leading South Indian actress with the Tamil romantic film O Kadhal Kanmani (2015).
Menen has appeared in several commercially successful films, including the Malayalam productions Ustad Hotel (2012), Bangalore Days (2014) and 100 Days of Love (2015), and the Tamil films Kanchana 2 (2015), 24 (2016), Mersal (2017), Thiruchitrambalam (2022) and Thalaivan Thalaivii (2025). Mersal earned her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress – Tamil,