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Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran at the launch of Kanthaswamy
Birth name	Shriya Saran
Born	September 11, 1982 (1982-09-11) (age 25) Haridwar, India
Official site	http://www.shriyasaran.com

Shriya Saran ^[1] (Tamil: ஷ்ரேயா சரன்; Telugu: శ్రియ సరం) (born on September 11, 1982) is an Indian film actress & is a Virgoan. She began her career acting in Telugu language films in the Telugu cinema industry, while also attending an acting studio, to follow her dream to act. After her debut in 2001 with Ishtam, she gained Indian cinema's attention in 2002 by playing the role of Bhanu in Santhosham, her first major hit. She reached superstardom by enacting the role of Anjali in the Telugu language film, Nuvve Nuvve, her first blockbuster, and since then she has acted in over twenty Indian films. She has recently switched her main intention of Indian regional films from Telugu to Tamil language ventures. Her most prestigious projects to date are Chiranjeevi's Tagore and Rajinikanth's Sivaji: The Boss which happens to be the largest and the most expensive movie made in India till date.

She however, like many other actresses has had a rich upbringing into the industry, with her father, Pushpendra Saran being a senior executive in BHEL, while her mother, Neeraja Saran, taught chemistry at Delhi Public School, Haridwar and later Mathura Road, Delhi. Shreya performs predominantly in leading heroine roles in high-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. Her most popular films include Tagore (2003), Santhosham (2002), Nenunnanu (2003), Chatrapathi (2005), Mazhai (2005), and Sivaji: The Boss (2007).

Shriya Saran was born as second child to 'Neeraja' and 'Pushpendra Saran'. She was brought up in Ranipur, Haridwar, the holy city. She has an elder brother 'Abhiroop', who is married to Arti. She has completed her schooling from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi. She has done B.A. (Literature) from Lady Sri Ram College(LSR). She has a serious interest in classical dancing, and is an accomplished Kathak dancer, under the guidance of her guru Shobha Narayan. She started her career as a model and this led to roles in advertisements and in music albums.

She spends some of her time on social causes and is the brand ambassador of "Naandi Foundation" and "SACH". She is also known for financially helping poor children's heart surgeries and education for the orphans.

Shriya started her movie acting career with the Telugu film Ishtam (2001), produced by Usha Kiran Movies. This first film didn't fare too well at the box office, but she was noticed by many Telugu producers and directors. Soon she signed for Nagarjuna's Santosham (2002), which was a major hit and she didn't have to turn back since then. She was very lucky to get the most coveted chance to act opposite none other than Chiranjeevi at a very early point in her career. After the huge success of Tagore she became one of the top actresses of the south Indian film industry. Her later movies, such as Nuvve Nuvve and Bhageeratha, earned her many accolades. She had one of the biggest hits in her career with Chatrapati opposite Prabhas. Shriya is also endorses for large brands like LUX and Head&Shoulders.

She made her Tamil movie debut in Enakku 20 Unakku 18 (2003), casted along with Telugu actor Tarun, Trisha Krishnan. The film was an average hit at box-office, but it was more importantly a musical hit due to music composed by A. R. Rahman. She had plenty of glamorous roles lined up for her in Tamil, but instead continued with Tollywood for a year. She has made her comeback in Kollywood through the film Mazhai with Jayam Ravi. The movie did well at the box-office. She beat other top actresses for the much coveted role with Rajinikanth in Shankar's Sivaji: The Boss which is the by far the costliest Indian film till date. Most recently she appeared opposite Vijay in Azhagiya Tamil Magan and she is currently filming with Vikram in Kanthaswamy.

• Shriya's Official Website
• Shriya - Photo Gallery
• Shriya at the Internet Movie Database
• Shriya's profile on Linkedzone