Anushka Shetty

Anushka had a dream debut in 'Super' (2005) as the leading lady of Akkineni Nagarjuna. Success evaded this Mangalorean beauty until 2008. Following the release of 'Arundhati', Anushka Shetty became a rage in Andhra Pradesh. This leggy siren is, now, one of the top-earning actresses of Tollywood. Her latest release 'Vettaikaran', opposite Vijay, has set the cash registers ringing at the Kollywood B.O. After graduating in Computer Applications (BCA), Anushka wanted to get into the fitness world and thus became a yoga instructor.  She met Puri Jagannath through a common friend, who was looking for a heroine for 'Super'. Her first salary was Rs 20 lakh.  Her third film, 'Vikramarkudu' (2006), opposite Ravi Teja was a huge hit. In Chiranjeevi-starrer 'Stalin' (2006), Anushka performed an item dance.  In 2006, she debuted in Tamil with 'Rendu', opposite Madhavan. In 2008, she had four releases in Telugu; 'Baladur', 'Souryam', 'Chintakaala Ravi' and 'King'. Of these, the last mentioned was the only hit, in which Anushka appeared in an item number. Her parents are in the hospitality industry; one of her brothers is a dentist and the other, an engineer.  She learnt yoga from the famous guru Bharat Thakur in Mumbai.  Says Anushka: "I can be loud and vivacious and yet be demure. In fact, when people meet me for the first time they think I am arrogant. ." For the Tulu speaking Shetty girl, learning Telugu was not very difficult. Her knowledge of Kannada helped her a lot. Anushka enjoys reading, music, loves nature and travelling. She is very fond of children and pets.  She has a rather curious hobby of collecting paper cuttings on natural disasters. Her favourite Bolly actors are Hritik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. It's Mahesh Babu, Gopichand and NTR, in Tollywood. Her favourite actresses are Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Sushmita Sen in Bollywood; Soundarya, Simran, Jyothika in south India.