Sushma Jayadev, known professionally as Devayani, is an Indian actress who predominantly acts in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu-language along with a few Kannada, Hindi-language and Bengali films. She received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for her performances in the films Surya Vamsam and Bharathi and a Special Award for Kadhal Kottai. She was the leading actress from 1996 to 2003 in Tamil. She has also appeared in other commercially successful films, including Ninaithen Vandhai, Nee Varuvai Ena, Thenali, Friends, Aanandham and Azhagi as well as in the Sun TV's huge successful serial Kolangal where she win the Best Television Actress for her performance.
Personal life
Devayani was born as Sushma Jayadev, in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her father Jayadev is from Mangalore, Karnataka and mother Lakshmi Ammal is from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. She has two younger brothersNakul and Mayur. The former is working as an actor and singer in the Tamil film industry, while the latter would also make his acting debut in an upcoming film. She dated director Rajakumaran, with whom she had worked on a few films for several years. Both their parents did not approve of their relationship, which led the couple to elope, and marry privately on 9 April 2001. They have two daughters, Iniya and Priyanka. Currently, she is teaching at Church Park School at Anna Salai, Chennai for class four students.
Career
Devayani began her career as Koyal in the Hindi filmKoyal, which was later cancelled during its production stage. She appeared in a Bengali filmShaat Ponchomi.She also acted in a Marathi film before debuting and rising to fame in Tamil cinema. Her earliest films were released in the early and middle 90's including Kadhal Kottai. From 1996 to 2000, Devyani acted as heroine in over 35 films and acted alongside all the top actors such as Kamal Hassan, Prashanth, Ajith, Vijay, Vikram, Sarath Kumar, Parthiban. She moved into supporting roles in Thenali though she still acted commercially until 2004–2005. Devayani began acting in the teleserial Kolangal as Abinaya, which has had over 1500 episodes on Sun Television. It was later dubbed into Malayalam also in the same name on Surya TV. She has completed a Teacher Training course and is now a teacher at Church Park Convent, Chennai. Currently, she is judging a popular reality show on Mazhavil Manorama titled Ugram Ujwalam. She has acted in some advertisements also.
