Asin

Date/ Place of birth:
26 October 1985, Cochin, Kerala, India

Relationship Status: Single

Spouse/ Partner:
None

Debut Film:

Ghajini (2008)

Asin was born into a Syrian Christian family from Ernakulam in Kochi district, Kerala. Her father, Joseph Thotumkal, managed several businesses and was considered a prominent entrepreneur before he stopped managing his businesses and decided to manage his daughter's acting career instead. Furthermore Asin's father accompanies her to all her foreign shoots. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal, remains a surgeon despite moving settlements from Cochin to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter. Asin has quoted that her name "means without blemish and pure". She claims that "the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit and word ‘Sin’ from English". She also mentions that she "has not come across anyone with same name."

Asin Thottumkal debuted in a supporting role in Sathyan Anthikkad's unsuccessful Malayalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, at the age of 15. After taking a year out to pursue her education, Asin returned with her breakthrough film as an actress, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja, portraying a Tamil girl in her first Telugu language film, which subsequently fetched her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the same year she won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance alongside Nagarjuna in her second Telugu film, Shivamani. Her following two Telugu films, Lakshmi Narasimha and Gharshana, both portrayed Asin as the love interest for police officers, giving her two more solid hit films, cementing her place as a leading actress in the Telugu film industry.

After the release of Ullam Ketkumae, Asin became publicized as a leading heroine after signing films with the four leading actors of the Tamil industry: Surya, Vikram, Vijay and Ajith in Ghajini, Majaa, Sivakasi and Varalaru respectively. The venture which provided the breakthrough for Asin to become the leading South Indian actress was her Tamil film, Ghajini. The film, co-starring Surya and Nayantara and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, helped Asin secure the Tamil Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her role, that of a vivacious young model called Kalpana who dies, became a trendsetter and was parodied in several other films after the release of Ghajini.

Asin appeared in her first dual role in K. S. Ravikumar's magnum opus Dasavathaaram opposite Kamal Haasan, who portrayed ten roles. The film, which was under production since September 2006, became Asin's largest film till date. Despite being overshadowed by Haasan's ten roles, Asin's portrayal's in the film were praised as her "best-to-date" with one of her roles being that of a Vaishnavite in the 12th century; whilst the other character was a Brahmin girl from Chidambaram. Dasavathaaram subsequently went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in South Indian film history. Since establishing herself as the leading actress in South India, Asin opted to move into Bollywood, to get nationwide fame. Her first film, Ghajini opposite Aamir Khan was the remake of her breakthrough film of the same name. Upon release, the film garnered positive reactions from critics and masses alike, with Asin being singled out for her "fabulous" portrayal. The only other project Asin is commiitted to, as of 2009, is Vipul Shah's London Dreams alongside Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan, in which she plays a member of a five-troupe band.