Andrea Jeremiah

Andrea Jeremiah was born in a Tamil Anglo-Indian family,^[3] in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu. Andrea's father is a lawyer at the Madras High Court.^[4] She has one younger sister and was raised near Chennai. She went to St.Joseph Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Perambur,Chennai[[1]], and graduated from Women's Christian College.^[5]

Andrea learned classical piano when she was eight. At age 10, she was a part of a Jackson Five-style troupe called Young Stars which formed the base of her early singing and music composing career. She was also a theatre artist in her college and appeared in several stage plays organised by The Madras Players and EVAM.^[6][2] She was the President of the Student Senate at Women's Christian College. She also organised a company, The Show Must Go On (TSMGO Productions), to promote live art and artistes.^[7] Andrea said that as a college student, she turned down every film offer she got as she had no intention of becoming a film actor.^[8]

Andrea began her theatre career with Girish Karnad's Nagamandala. She acted in new leo coffee advertisement with actor Shiva in 2006. She also acted in a serial which relayed in Podhigai channel. She has performed all over India. After she rendered a song in Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu,^[5] he asked her to play as one of the lead female character in his next venture, Pachaikili Muthucharam.^[2] This film was a film adaptation of James Siegel's novel Derailed,^[9] with Andrea portraying Kalyani, a homemaker, whose husband engages in an affair and is blackmailed. Andrea was selected for the role after actresses Simran, Shobana and Tabu were approached.^[10][11]

 

She signed for Selvaraghavan's fantasy-adventure film Aayirathil Oruvan,^[2] which released in early 2010. In 2011, she agreed to play a minor supporting role in Venkat Prabhu's multi-starrer Mankatha, which was released in August 2011 and became one of the biggest commercial success.^[12][13]

In 2013, Andrea made her debut in Malayalam cinema with Rajeev Ravi's romance film Annayum Rasoolum, in which she played a Christian salesgirl opposite Fahadh Faasil.^[14] Anil R. Nair stated, "Andrea gels flawlessly to her mysterious character."^[15] The film was a commercial success and she termed it as the best film in her career.^[16][17]

In Puthiya Thiruppangal, she played a journalist.^[18] In Endrendrum Punnagai, she played a model^[19] and she also acted in the Malayalam film London Bridge.^[20] Her next film as female lead was the 2014 Aranmanai, directed by Sundar C. It was a box office success as well as a breakthrough film in her career.^[21] In 2015, Andrea was cast alongside Mohanlal in Loham, directed by Ranjith. This was her first film with Mohanlal and was a success at the box office.^[22]

In 2017, Andrea played a single mother in Ram's Taramani opposite Vasanth Ravi.^[23] Anupama Subramanian noted, "Andrea has given a performance to match the gravitas of her character. Taramani had plenty to offer and Andrea has not let the writers down. She simply excels." The film was a box office success and earned her acclaim.^[24]

She played a role in Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam and reprised the role in its sequel, which released in 2018.^[25] In 2021, her first release was Master, which she played Vananthi. The film received mixed-to-positive and became successful at the box-office. Then she appeared as lead in Aranmanai 3, directed by Sundar C Though the film received mostly negative reviews, it became a commercial hit.^[26]

She has also completed shootings for Tamil movies like Maaligai and Myskkin's Pisaasu 2, and she is currently filming Kaa, in which she plays the lead role. She reportedly plays a wildlife photographer.^[27] She also completed her another Malayalam film Prakasham Parathunna Penkutty with Sudev Nair directed By R.Unni.

Andrea has stated that her focus was always on music,^[8] that she chose to be a professional singer and that acting happened by chance.^[28] In 2005, she ventured into playback singing in feature films.^[29] She has sung several popular songs for composers Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Anirudh Ravichander, Thaman, Devi Sri Prasad and G. V. Prakash Kumar^[30] and has also received nominations at Filmfare and Vijay Awards for a few of them. She considers the song "Maalai Neram" as the most challenging she has sung.^[8]

Apart from singing under other composers' direction, Andrea also produces her own music. She composed, wrote and sang a single, "Soul of Taramani", as a promo for her Tamil romantic-drama Taramani. She has composed several music themes, songs and albums.^[31]

 

Andrea's character Althiya from Taramani, is considered among the most memorable female characters of Tamil cinema.^[32][33] In the Chennai Times Most Desirable Woman list, Andrea was placed 7th in 2017 and 16th in 2018, 25th in 2019, 27th in 2020.^{[34][35][36][37]}

• List of Indian actresses
• List of Indian playback singers

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrea Jeremiah.

• Andrea Jeremiah at IMDb  
• Andrea Jeremiah on Instagram