Samantha Akkineni

Samantha was born on 28 April 1987 to a Telugu father, Prabhu and a Malayali mother, Ninette from Alappuzha, Kerala. She was brought up in Pallavaram in Chennai, Tamil Nadu as the youngest child of the family to Prabhu and Ninette and two elder brothers Jonathan and David, whilst becoming fluent in the Tamil language. Despite her mixed regional background, she has cited herself as a Tamilian. As a part of her education, Samantha was schooled at Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and then completed a degree in commerce at Stella Maris College, Chennai. Towards the end of her undergraduate degree she became involved in modelling, notably working with Naidu Hall, through which she was first spotted by filmmaker Ravi Varman.

Samantha's next release was the romantic drama, Baana Kaathadi (2010), opposite Adharvaa. The film was actually the third Tamil project signed by the actress, but its release preceded the first two that she was contracted for due to delays in their completion. Samantha portrayed a student of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the first such role in Tamil cinema. Her next release was Ravi Varman's Moscowin Kavery (2010), originally the first film she began work on. The shooting for the film began in August 2007, with Samantha, then briefly credited with the screen name Yasodha, joining the team later in the year. In an interview held in 2008, Ravi Varman mentioned that he had decided that Samantha would be the lead actress for his film within three minutes after viewing one of her commercial assignments. He went on to describe her as an actress with "intelligence" and "potential", whilst drawing comparisons with the noted actress, Revathi. However, due to Ravi Varman's prior commitments as cinematographer in other projects, the film languished in development hell, eventually releasing in August 2010. The film earned poor reviews from critics, though Samantha's performance was credited as one of the sole highlights that the film offered. In August 2008, while still completing her last three projects, Samantha also signed up to play the lead role of a modern girl in the Narain starrer, Pookada Ravi, which was later shelved. Samantha then went on to feature in Vamsi Paidipally's Telugu film Brindaavanam (2010) in which she had a supporting role alongside NTR Jr and Kajal Aggarwal. Her performance as Indu was well received despite the role having a shorter screen time than the ones she had played in her previous films, and the film became her second successful venture in Telugu.

Samantha began her professional film career with Gautham Menon's Telugu film, Ye Maaya Chesave (2010). The film, simultaneously made in Tamil as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010), created much anticipation prior to release, due primarily to the first-time-collaboration between Gautham Menon and composer A. R. Rahman. The actress successfully auditioned and was signed up for the project in mid August 2009 and worked on the film in India and the United States, while the film was released on 26 February 2010. Post-release, she revealed that Menon played a "crucial part in moulding her as an actress", teaching her how to remain natural and comfortable in front of the screen, even if she had no dialogues in a scene. In the film, Samantha played the lead character Jessie, a Malayali Saint Thomas Christian girl living in Hyderabad, with whom the male protagonist, played by Naga Chaitanya, falls in love. Upon release of the film, Samantha received very positive reviews for her portrayal, with the film itself garnering much critical acclaim. Critics at Sify praised Samantha as a "scene-stealer" and her beauty as "alluring", adding, "she was the girl to watch out for." Jeevi from Idlebrain.com, wrote that "Samantha's debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema" and noted that the "minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her", whilst labelling the film as a "classic". Ye Maaya Chesave fetched her the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Actress and a Nandi Award. Samantha appeared in a cameo role in the Tamil version of the film, portraying an assistant director who becomes an actress. Both the Telugu and the Tamil versions of the films proved to be grand successes, propelling Samantha to sign on for bigger projects. She followed up her collaborations with Gautham Menon and A. R. Rahman by appearing in the music video for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 promotional song, Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam, which Menon directed and Rahman composed.

Samantha then worked on Gautham Menon's trilingual romantic drama film, and played the leading female role of Nithya in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of the film, shooting scenes simultaneously back-to-back with three different actors. The Tamil version, Neethane En Ponvasantham (2012) featured her alongside Jiiva, while Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu (2012) paired her opposite Nani. A further Hindi version titled Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau with Aditya Roy Kapoor was simultaneously shot with the other two films and was "sixty percent" completed, before Menon shelved the venture after his other Hindi film, Ekk Deewana Tha, had failed at the box office. The film spanned three periods in the life of a couple, focusing on their romantic relationship at school, college and in their late twenties. Samantha revealed that she knew Gautham would want to work with her again and immediately accepted the opportunity to portray the roles when she was offered the film. She felt that she "could relate to the attributes and the circumstances the character goes through" and described Nithya's character as "close to her". To make her performance as authentic as possible, Samantha chose to dub for herself in the Tamil version of the film. The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film opened in December 2012, earning differing reactions. Neethane En Ponvasantham earned mixed reviews and performed averagely at the box office, though Samantha received highly positive acclaim for her portrayal. The critic from The Hindu noted she "comes up with possibly the best performance by a female lead in Tamil cinema this year" and "her transformation from a gawky teenager to an adult, unable to overcome her ego, is outstanding". Meanwhile, IBN stated "Samantha's transformation from a school kid to an adult is a treat to watch," while Rediff.com noted she is "pretty, graceful, and does an excellent job of conveying the emotions of a girl in love, especially during the school sequence, while concluding she carries the film on her slender shoulders." The Telugu version, Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu, won positive reviews and did well commercially, while Samantha's performance was equally well appreciated. The Hindu wrote she "goes a step further from her famous portrayal of Jessy (Ye Maaya Chesaave) and brings out the intricacy of her character well", while the Times of India wrote "Samantha has the author backed role and she creams it." At the Filmfare Awards ceremony celebrating South Indian films of 2012, the actress subsequently won the Best Actress awards for both the Tamil and Telugu film industries for her performances in Neethane En Ponvasantham and Eega. Samantha became the second ever actress to achieve the feat after Revathi had secured both awards in 1992. 2012 became her most prolific award-winning year and she secured further recognition for Best Actress at the Vijay Awards, Santosham Film Awards and the CineMAA Awards.

Samantha suffered from an extended period of illness in 2012, which saw her having to opt out of big film projects and take a two-month break from acting. She suffered from an immunity disorder and then had a further setback after her body did not respond well to antibiotics. She began dating actor Naga Chaitanya in 2010 and the pair were engaged in a ceremony in Hyderabad during January 2017. She got married in Goa as per traditional Hindu customs on 6 October 2017 and then by Christian customs on 7 October 2017.

Samantha has actively been involved in philanthropic activities and donates her earnings from endorsements, product launches and inauguration events to her charitable trust, Pratyusha Support, which was registered in 2012. She chose to begin the non-governmental organisation after being bed-ridden for 15 days during her documented illness in 2012, and wanted to give back to society. Samantha subsequently started the Pratyusha Support foundation to provide medical support for women and children with the help of three doctor friends, and provided the entire financial support for the programme. She held a fund raiser in August 2013 to raise awareness of her foundation, auctioning several of her personal items and memorabilia from films. A further initiative in 2014 saw the launch of a programme to fulfil the wishes of children with life-threatening diseases, with Samantha financing trips for children to fly on an aeroplane and travel to the Taj Mahal, while also organising opportunities for children to meet their favourite film actors. Samantha has also been involved in spreading awareness of haemophilia, regularly taking part in events creating awareness of the disease.

Samantha has also been involved in a few controversies, primarily as a result of voicing her opinions through Twitter. Following the release of a promotional poster for the Telugu film, 1: Nenokkadine (2014) in December 2013, Samantha criticised the depiction of actress Kriti Sanon crawling behind actor Mahesh Babu on the beach, who looks back at Kriti disapprovingly. Samantha tweeted that the poster was "deeply regressive" and stated that it was offensive by the makers to depict women like animals. The tweet received an adversely storming response from Mahesh Babu's fans, who launched a scathing attack on her online and targeted abuse at the actress. Her opinions were later backed by actor Siddharth and directors Sekhar Kammula and Nandini Reddy, who also resultantly faced similar abuse, before Mahesh Babu apologised. Through her tweets, she was also criticised for revealing actor Akhil's presence in Manam (2014) and retweeting a pirated image from her film 10 Endrathukulla (2015). Her family home in Chennai was raided in late September 2015 by income tax officials, in a planned operation targeting film actors, though the actress and her father denied making any wrongful payments. In 2017, she was appointed as the ambassador for Telangana Handlooms by the government of Telangana and currently works to promote handloom textiles in the state of Telangana.

Through her charitable trust, Samantha entered into an agreement in January 2015 to pay a third of the hospital bills of one infant per week who required intensive care support at Andhra Hospitals. Under the arrangement, Samantha agreed to contribute towards a third of the bills, while Andhra Hospitals would also pay a third of the bill and the remaining third would be paid by the parents. In November 2015, Samantha entered into a further agreement with Andhra Hospitals to sponsor vaccination of all infants below six months for rotaviral infections free of cost. Later in the month, the actress took part in an organ donation pledge at Madhapur. During the 2015 Chennai floods, Samantha was situated in Hyderabad for the shoot of a film, and helped mobilise the Mana Madras Kosam initiative organised by the Telugu film industry. Through the initiative, she participated in gathering relief materials at Ramanaidu Studios and appealed to the Telugu-speaking public to help gather resources to send to Chennai. She later donated 30 lakh rupees for flood relief activities to take place in Pallavaram, the suburb in which the actress grew up. Samantha stood up for the cause of Handloom people of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states by wearing them and making photoshoots for handloom made sarees and other items. Samantha to be brand Ambassador for Telangana Handlooms Samantha to start a store named Tweave along with handloom persons and a company named SVSpartnersLLP a company into handlooms.

After portraying strong characters in her first few films, Samantha chose to feature in increasingly hero-centric films in the mid 2010s. When questioned on her decision not to take up more heroine-orientated roles, Samantha lamented the lack of chances that the South Indian film industry presents for established female characters and described it as "simply male-dominated". She added that the market meant she was not going to "get roles similar to her characters in Ye Maaya Chesave or Eega every time" and accepted stories if it had "the potential to engage viewers". Talking about her glamorous role in her comeback Tamil film, Anjaan (2014), Samantha stated that she made a "thoughtful call" as "it was important to do these kind of films to get exposure into the market," and that regrettably "mass films" were "where the main audience" was in South Indian cinema. She also added that she did not want to be "typecast as the girl-next-door" and was keen to prove critics wrong, who said that she could not fit into glamorous roles. In an interview in 2015, Samantha suggested that she was unhappy with her work during the previous year and would no longer do any more films where she would be "required to do five songs and the scenes leading up to the songs" and made a promise to herself that "if she was not going to get good roles", she would quit acting.

In 2018, she had a successful venture with Rangasthalam which went on to be the all-time Telugu Blockbuster only behind Baahubali 2: The Conclusion and Baahubali: The Beginning. The Tamil film Irumbu Thirai in which she starred opposite Vishal and the Telugu film Mahanati were successful at the box-office and each had a run of 100 days at the box office. Her performances in Rangasthalam and Mahanati were highly praised. Mridula R from The News Minute noted her critically acclaimed film U Turn as a curiosity generating script that provides her the ultimate screen presence since the story begins with her and she finds it ends, rather that not being shaking a leg in Anjaan, Brindavanam, Kaththi, Attarintiki Daredi or being glam doll or having out of scope performances overshadowed in Dookudu, S/O Satyamurthy, Brahmotsavam, Theri and Mersal.