Gayathrie Shankar

Gayathrie was born and brought up in Bangalore.^[1]

Gayathire made her screen debut with the psychological thriller 18 Vayasu (2012), and gained recognition for her work in Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom opposite Vijay Sethupathi, in the same year.^[2] In 2013 she starred in two films, Ponmaalai Pozhudhu and Mathapoo. In 2014, she appeared in Rummy (2014), a 1980s college love story opposite Inigo Prabhakaran.^[3] After a two year hiatus, she appeared in the 2017 film Puriyatha Puthir reuniting with Vijay Sethupathi.^[4] In 2018, she had two releases, a dark comedy, Oru Nalla Naal Paathu Solren and drama film Seethakaathi.^[5] That year, Gayathrie also made her web debut with Vella Raja opposite Bobby Simha.^[6]

Gayathrie had five releases in 2019. She first appeared in the films Chithiram Pesuthadi 2, Super Deluxe, K- 13 and Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (where she had a voice role). She later appeared in the web series Fingertip.^[7][8] In Super Deluxe, she played a transgender's wife opposite Vijay Sethupathi.^[9] Kirubakaran Purushothaman of India Today was appreciative of her performance and expressions.^[10] In 2021, she had a special dance appearance in Tughlaq Durbar.^[11]

The year 2022 marked a turning point in her career with several successful films. She first played a secret agent's wife in Vikram opposite Fahadh Faasil.^[12] The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.^[13] Her long delayed film Maamanithan was released in the same year.^[14] Gayathrie then expanded to Malayalam films with Nna Thaan Case Kodu, playing a reformed thief's lover opposite Kunchacko Boban.^[15] Jose K George of The Week noted, "Gayathrie is praiseworthy. Although she does not have much to do in the first two acts, she has quite a few interesting lines in the third act, and the actor pulls it off with much self-assurance."^[16] The film was a box office success and won her the SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut – Malayalam.^[17] Her last release that year was Udanpaal.^[18]

In 2023, Gayathrie appeared in Bagheera opposite Prabhudeva,^[19] and in the Malayalam film Corona Papers opposite Shane Nigam.^[20] In the same year, she played a young terrorist in the Hindi series Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke. Ganesh Aaglave of Firstpost noted, "Gayathrie as Tasleena will make you hate her portrayal with her impeccable act."^[21] In 2024, Gayathire first appeared in a cameo as a singer in the Hindi-Tamil bilingual Merry Christmas. She then played the lead in Pechi.^[22] Abhinav Subramanian of The Times of India stated that she "excels" in her well-written role.^[23]