Amala Paul is an Indian film actress, who works in the South Indian film industry. Her previous stage name was Anakha.
In 2013, Amala Paul tasted her first success at the Telugu Box office. Her first release in 2013 was V. V. Vinayak's directorial Naayak, opposite Ram Charan Teja. The movie went on to be one of the biggest critical as well as commercial success of the year. Her next film was Puri Jagannadh's romantic comedy Iddarammayilatho opposite Allu Arjun. Upon release, Amala's performance was highly appreciated by the critics. Sangeetha Devi Dundroo of The Hindu commented "Amala Paul manages to pull off a character that traverses a thin line between being naïve and downright silly. We wish we saw more of her." Another reviewer, Sasidhar AS from The Times of India commented "Amala Paul's characterisation is a delight, and she plays Komali so effectively that you'll be left wondering who else could have done the role better than her. She was a perfect choice to play a traditional Telugu girl." Currently, She is working in A. L. Vijay's Political thriller Thalaivaa opposite Vijay, for the first time in her career. She is also starring in Samuthirakani's Nimirndhu Nil opposite Jayam Ravi, which is simultaneously being shot in Telugu as Janda Pai Kapiraju, in which Nani is reprising the role of Jayam Ravi.
After appearing in supporting roles in the Malayalam film Neelathamara and a venture in Tamil, she received critical acclaim for the portrayal of a controversial character in the film, Sindhu Samaveli. Despite the failure of that film, Amala became noted after playing the title role in Mynaa, receiving critical acclaim for her work. Since then, she has been signed on for several notable projects and is considered a leading actress in Tamil films. She has appeared in a few Malayalam films as well.
Amala was born on 26 October 1991 in Ernakulam, Kerala to Malayali Syrian Christian parents, Paul Varghese and Annice Paul. After completing her Plus Two examinations at govt girls HSS, Aluva she took a sabbatical to begin a career in films, but has since joined St. Teresa's College in Kochi, to pursue a BA degree in English and is a currently in her third year. Her father had been strictly against Amala pursuing an acting career, but was forced to accept her decision with her older brother, Abijith, strongly backing her ambition.She later claimed she had performing arts in her DNA, revealing that her mother was a singer and her dad was into theatre in college.Amala had changed her on-screen name to Anakha, on director Samy's insistence, who cited that another actress, Amala had already made her name popular. However, after the failure of Sindhu Samaveli, she reverted to her birth name since she felt that the replacement had brought her bad luck. Amala says Anushka Shetty as her ‘role model’ and has added that she would love to follow suit in Anushka’s footsteps "I value her a lot as an actress and reasons to think her of a real-life ‘role model’ for me".
