1. Revathi: Revathi, a native of Kochi, started her career in the year 1983 with the Tamil movie ‘Mann Vasanai’. The role of Muthupechi won her the Filmfare special award. The actress won three National Awards for ‘Thevar Magan’ in Tamil, ‘Mitr, my friend’ in Hindi and ‘Red Building Where the sun sets’ in English. Revathi legally separated from her husband Suresh Menon in 2013 and had adopted a daughter since then.
2. Nadhiya: Zareena aka Nadhiya was born and brought up in Bandra, Mumbai. She debuted in the year 1984 with the Malayalam movie ‘Nokketha Doorathu Kannum Nattu’ alongside Padmini and Mohanlal which was later remade in Tamil as ‘Poovey Poo Choodava’ that next year with Padmini and S V Sekar. Nadhiya married Shirish Godbole in the year 1988 and is a proud parent of two children. After 10 years of remaining inactive in the film industry, Nadhiya made a successful comeback in the year 2004 with the movie ‘M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi’ alongside Jayam Ravi and Asin.
3. Amala Akkineni: Amala was born and brought up in Kolkata to a Bengali father and Irish mother. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Bharatnatyam from Kalakshetra. She was subsequently persuaded to join films by T. Rajender who visited her home with his sister and convinced her mother to let her act in the film which would be a classical film featuring her Bharat Natyam dancing. She made her debut in the year 1986 with the Tamil movie ‘Mythili Ennai Kadhali’ alongside T Rajendran. She made her Telugu Debut in the movie ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ alongside Kamal Haasan. After 19 years, she made a comeback in the Telugu movie ‘Life is beautiful’. Amala is married to Tollywood Star Nagarjuna Akkineni and has a son Akhil. She is also the stepmother of Nag Chaitanya.
4. Suhasini Mani Ratnam: Suhasini was born and brought up in Chennai. She is married to the famous director Mani Ratnam. The actress made her debut in the year 1980 with the Tamil movie ‘Nenjathai Killadhe’ alongside Sarath Babu and Prathap Pothen. She made her consecutive debuts in Telugu in 1981 with the movie ‘Kotha Jeevithalu’, in Malayalam in 1983 with the movie ‘Koodavide’ and in Kannada in 1983 with the movie ‘1983’. She is also the family member of the Haasan dynasty. She was born to Charuhaasan, the brother of Kamal Haasan. She married Maniratnam in the year 1988 and is a proud parent of a son.
5. Shobana: Shobana was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. In 2006, the Indian Government honored Shobana with the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the classical dance. In 2014, The Kerala Government honored her with the Kala Ratna Award. The actress was brought up in Chennai. Shobana made her debut in the year 1980 with the Tamil movie ‘ Mangala Nayagi’ alongside Srikanth and K R Vijaya. She then made her Malayalam debut in the year 1984 with the movie ‘April 18’ alongside Balanchandra Menon. In 1994, Shobana founded a school for classical dance Bharata Natyam in Chennai – ‘Kalarpana’.
6. Sridevi: The actress was born and brought up in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. Sridevi started her career as a child artist in M.A. Thirumugham’s devotional ‘Thunaivan’ at the age of 4 and continued to act as a child artist in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her Bollywood debut as a child artist in the hit ‘Julie’ (1975) and played her first adult role at age 13 with the Tamil film ‘Moondru Mudichu’ (1976). Sridevi established herself as one of the leading actresses of Tamil and Telugu cinema, with roles such as ’16 Vayathinile’ (1977), ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’ (1978), ‘Varumayin Niram Sivappu’ (1980), ‘Meendum Kokila’ (1981), ‘Premabhishekam’ (1981), ‘Moondram Pirai’ (1982), ‘Aakhari Poratam’ (1988), ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari’ (1990), and ‘Kshana Kshanam’ (1991).Sridevi had an affair with Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborthy but later she married Boney Kapoor and is now a proud mother of 2 daughters. After 15 years she made a comeback with the movie ‘English Vinglish’ which was a blockbuster.
7. Ramya Krishnan: Ramya Krishnan was born and brought up in Chennai. She has acted in over 200 films in five languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Predominantly, she acted in almost 100 Telugu and 60 Tamil movies. She is the niece of veteran Tamil comedian Cho Ramaswamy. She received initial training in Bharathanatyam, Western and Kuchipudi dance forms and has given many stage performances. The actress made a debut in the year 1985 at the age of 13 with the Malayalam movie ‘Neram Pularumbol’ alongside Mammooty and Mohanlal. She made a Tamil debut in that same year with the movie ‘Vellai Manasu’ alongside Y.G. Mahendran. Her first Telugu debut was in the year 1989 with the movie ‘Sutradharulu’ alongside Nageshwara Rao Akkineni. She is married to Telugu director Krishna Vamsi and has a son.
8. Jaya Sudha: Jaya Sudha Kapoor was born and brought up in Chennai. She made her debut in the year 1972 with the movie ‘Pandati Kapuram’ alongside SV Ranga Rao. She then made her Tamil debut in the year 1973 with the movie ‘Sollathan Ninaikkiren’ alongside Sivakumar. She made her Malayalam debut in the year 1975 with the movie ‘Rasaleela’ alongside Kamal Haasan. Her Bollywood debut was in the year 1977 with the movie ‘Aaina’ alongside Rajesh Khanna. she made her Kannada debut in the year 1985 with the movie ‘Nee Thanda Kanike’. She has acted in 225 Telugu films, and in one year, she had 24 film releases. She got married to Bollywood film producer and businessman Nitin Kapoor in the year 1985. She joined the India National Congress Party and was elected as the MLA in the 2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative assembly elections. Her husband, Nitin Kapoor was found dead in his office in Mumbai under mysterious circumstances on March 14, 2017.
9. Gauthami: Gauthami was born in Andhra Pradesh and brought up in Chennai. Apart from being an actress and a Television hostess, she has also been a costume designer. She was the daughter of Dr. Seshagiri Rao.Gautami was married to businessman Sandeep Bhatia in 1998 with whom she has a daughter Subbalakshmi born in 1999. She divorced Sandeep in 1999 and was in a live-in relationship with Kamal Haasan from 2005. She made her debut in the year 1987 with the Telugu movie ‘Dayamayudu’. She made her Kannada debut that same year with the movie ‘Elu Suttina Kote’ alongside Ambarish. She made her Tamil debut in the year 1988 with the movie ‘Guru Sishyan’ alongside Rajinikanth and Prabhu. She made her Bollywood debut in the year 1989 with the movie ‘Naquab’. She finally made her Malayalam debut in the year 1990 with the movie ‘His Highness Abdullah’ alongside Mohanlal.
10. Raadhika Sarathkumar: Raadhika was born and brought up in Chennai. Raadhika has acted in over 200 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. She was a judge on Vijay TV’s ‘Jodi Number One’ Season 4. She has also produced a film titled ‘Meendum Oru Kaadhal Kathai’, which won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director. She married Prathap Pothen in the year 1985 and divorced him the next year. She then married Richard Hardy in the year 1990 and divorced him in 1992. She then married Sarathkumar in the year 2001 and is currently living with him. She made her debut in the year 1978 with the Tamil movie ‘Kizhake Pogum rail’. She made her Bollywood debut in 1979 with the movie ‘Humare Tumhare’ alongside Sanjeev Kumar. She made her Telugu debut in the year 1981 with the movie ‘Nyayam Kavali’ alongside Chiranjeevi. She made her Malayalam debut in the year 1983 with the movie ‘Justice Raja’ alongside Prem Nazir. Lastly, she made her Kannada debut in the movie ‘Prachanda Kulla’ alongside Dwarakish.
11. Radha: Radha was born and brought up in Kerala. She got married to Rajasekaran Nair on 10 September 1991. The couple has 3 children; Son Vignesh Nair and daughters Karthika Nair and Thulasi Nair have settled in Mumbai. For the past 25 years, they have owned a chain of restaurants in Mumbai and two hotels called UDS. Radha was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a teenager in the Tamil movie ‘Alaigal Oivathillai’ in 1981 opposite newcomer Karthik. She then made her Telugu debut the very next year in the movie ‘Mr.Vijay’. She then made her Malayalam and Bollywood debut in the year 1983 in the movies ‘Mortuary’ alongside Prem Nazir and ‘Fauladi Mukka’ alongside Rajnikanth respectively. Lastly, she made her Kannada debut in the year 1984 with the movie ‘Digvijaya’ alongside Ambarish.
12. Khushbu Sundar: Khushbu was born and brought up in Andheri, Mumbai. Khushbu married actor/director Sundar C on 9 March 2001. They have two daughters, Avanthika and Ananditha, after whom they named their production house. She has lived in Chennai for 20 years and she has three brothers who also live in Chennai. Khushbu made her announcement in April 2010 that she would be entering politics soon before the 2011 assembly elections and later joined the DMK, by signing her membership form at the party headquarters in Chennai. Khushbu quit DMK on 16 June 2014. Khushboo joined Indian National Congress on 26 November 2014 after meeting with Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. Khushbu started her career in the early 1980s as a child artist. She had her first credited role in the 1981 film ‘Laawaris’, and ‘Dard ka Rishta’ (1982). Sunil Dutt gave her large share screen appearance in ‘Dard Ka Rishta’. Since then, she has acted in less than 100 films, some opposite leading actors such as Ananth Nag, Kamal Hassan, Vishnuvardhan, Rajnikanth, Ambareesh, Venkatesh, Tiger Prabhakar, Nagarjuna, Ravichandran, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Sathyaraj, and Prabhu. She went to become the No 1 leading actress of Tamil Cinema during her period.