Tulasi (actress)

Tulasi (or Tulasi Shivamani) (20 June 1967) is an Indian actress. She started her career as a child actress, then became a lead actress and later did supporting role in mother characters. She has acted in over 300 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi languages.

Tulasi made her debut in the Telugu film Bharya when she was three months old in 1967. For a song in the film, a baby was needed and Tulasi was placed in the cradle after actress Savitri had requested Tulasi's mother, who was a friend of her. She was then featured in one song when she was one-and-half year old in Jeevanatarangalu and said that she became a full-fledged actor when she was three. She had never been to school.

She got married at age 28 to Kannada director Sivamani. She stated that "I met him in the morning and by evening we tied the knot". She has one son Sai Tarun with him. Tulasi decided to quit acting after getting married, working only occasionally as a voice actor in Telugu films, including ones by Mani Ratnam. When her son was around six years old, she received several mother character roles. She initially declined them all, but finally signed on one Kannada film, Excuse Me, in which she played mother to Divya Spandana and which became a big hit. After that she was doing three films a year in Kannada.

She later also began acting in mother roles in Tamil films like Pillaiyar Theru Kadaisi Veedu, Easan, Mankatha, Sundarapandian, Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer and Pandiya Naadu. Tulasi has said that Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer, in which she had played mother to Manisha Yadav's character, changed her life and brought her an "identity as a screen mother". Her portrayal of Chellamma in Pannaiyarum Padminiyum was praised too, with critics stating that she was "brilliant", and had given her "career best performance".

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