Pooja Hegde is an Indian actress who appears in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil films. Pooja Hegde was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in a Tulu-speaking family. Her parents are Manjunath Hegde and Latha Hegde. They are originally from Udupi, Karnataka. She also has an elder brother Rishabh Hegde, who is an orthopedic surgeon. Besides Tulu, she is fluent in Kannada, English, Hindi, and Marathi. She later learned Telugu and Tamil following a career in her respective cinema.
She did her schooling at Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School, Mumbai. She went to M. M. K. College, where she regularly participated in dance and fashion shows.
She began her career as a model and was crowned as the second runner-up at 2010 I Am She–Miss Universe India pageant. She made her acting debut with the Tamil film Mugamoodi (2012).
Hegde made her acting debut in Mysskin’s Tamil superhero film Mugamoodi (2012) opposite Jiiva, portraying the female lead character of Shakthi.
Hegde’s second film release, the Telugu film Oka Laila Kosam (2014), featured her opposite Naga Chaitanya. She was praised for her performance in the movie. Around the same time, she bagged the nomination for Best Actress at the 62nd Filmfare Awards (South).
In July 2014, Hegde agreed on terms to make her Bollywood debut opposite Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker’s period film Mohenjo Daro, set against the backdrop of the Indus Valley civilization.
In 2018, Hegde was featured in three Telugu films. The first is a special appearance in the song “Jigelu Rani” for the period action Rangasthala. The song was trending on YouTube and she was praised for her performance.
In 2021, Hegde starred in Most Eligible Bachelor, directed by Bommarillu Bhaskar. Her performance in the film received critical acclaim and won her the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu. In 2022, Hegde starred in the multilingual period romance film Radhe Shyam with Prabhas directed by Radha Krishna Kumar.
Her last release in 2022 was the Hindi film Cirkus directed by Rohit Shetty where she played one of the female leads opposite Ranveer Singh.
