Meenakshi Sheshadri

Born on November 16, 1963 Meenakshi Sheshadri was originally named as Shashikala Sheshadri. Meenakshi was born in a Tamil Iyengar family in Sindri, Jharkhand. However Meenakshi marked her artistic talent much before she landed herself in Bollywood. She got herself trained in four different dance forms including Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kucchipudi and Odissi from ace classical dancer, Vempati Chinna Satyam.

This mesmerizing beauty first grabbed attention by winning the 'Miss India' crown in 1981 at the age of seventeen years and became the youngest contender to win the title. Soon after her marvelous performance in the pageant, Meenakshi stepped her entry in to B-Town which was well predicted. In 1983, the South Indian beauty got a lavishing debut in Telugu - Hindi bilingual flick 'Painter Babu' alongside Rajiv Goswami.

The film did an average business at the box office, merely left Meenakshi with not much to celebrate. But soon, the awaited response was achieved by this newcomer in her next, Subhash Ghai directorial mega hit 'Hero' alongside Jackie Shroff. As the flick turned out to be a youth sensation, the actress too enjoyed her times on the seventh heaven. Later the sensation carried in her contribution with her next releases like 'Paisa Yeh Paisa', 'Awara Baap', 'Aandhi Toofan', 'Bewafai', 'Meri Jung' (1985), 'Allah-Rakha', 'Swati', 'Dacait', 'Intaqaam', 'Shahenshah', 'Gharana', 'Ghayal', 'Humlaa', 'Humshakal', few from her archives.

Well though this actress marked her presence in several flicks, her performance in 1990 release 'Jurm' grabbed the actress her first 'Filmfare' title in Best Actress category. Followed by the previous success, 1993 release 'Damini' proved a milestone in the actress's career. Her overwhelming performance of a women fighting for the rights of a rape victim went on for critical as well as commercial appraisal. This RajKumar Santoshi directorial starring Rishi Kapoor alongside the actress transformed her to become a versatile actress of that era.

As the years passed away, Sheshadri built her own image in the industry. Her pairings with actors, such as Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol went on the appreciation list also gather audience approvals. But this versatile beauty not just barred herself to Hindi films, though as well catered the regional cinemas with her presence in Telugu flick 'Brahamarishi Vishawamitra' in 1991 followed by yet another 'Aapathbandhavudu' in the year 1992. Meenakshi also appeared in a Tamil flick 'Duet' in 1994.

Soon after her Tamil venture, Meenakshi Sheshadri was seen in the movie 'Ghatak' alongside the audiences favorite muscle man Sunny Deol in the year 1996. Eventually, the movie not only made it up to enter the hit list, but also marked the actress's last to end her acting innings as well.

Meenakshi declared her resignation from the Bollywood industry soon after her marriage with US based investment banker, Harish Mysore. Although Meenakshi took a back step from one of her favorite career option, she is still active in the social circuit along with her dancing talent.

Possessing a happily married life with hubby and two kids Kendra and Josh, the beauty runs a dance academy in Texas, which expertises in classical forms such as Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kathak.