Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films.
Shetty was born in Mangalore, Karnataka. She is an ethnic Tuluva hailing from a Tulu-speaking Bunt family from Bellipady village in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. Her parents are Prafulla and A. N. Vittal Shetty and she has two elder brothers. Shetty received her Bachelor of Computer Applications from Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She was also a yoga instructor, trained under Bharat Thakur.
Shetty made her acting debut in Puri Jagannadh’s 2005 Telugu film Super, where she featured alongside Nagarjuna and Ayesha Takia. For her performance, she earned her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu.
In 2006, she had four releases, the first being S. S. Rajamouli’s Vikramarkudu, where she was paired with Ravi Teja. Her first release in 2007 was Lakshyam which was a success at the box office, after which she starred in Raghava Lawrence’s Don opposite Nagarjuna again.
In 2009, Shetty first starred in the blockbuster hit, fantasy film Arundhati. In this heroine-centric film, she essayed two roles for the first time.
She went on to win the Nandi Special Jury Award and her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu. Her next film was Billa, a remake of the 2007 Tamil film of the same name.
She had a string of releases in 2010. She portrayed a prostitute in Krish’s anthology film Vedam which stars Allu Arjun. For her performance, she won her second consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu. For her performance, she won the Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine, in addition to her sole nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil.
In 2012, She later appeared alongside Nagarjuna in the fantasy film Dhamarukam, which was her first Telugu release after two years. She received her fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in the film.
Her third release in 2015 was Gunashekar’s bilingual Rudhramadevi in which she portrays the title role of the queen of the Kakatiya dynasty, Rudrama Devi opposite Allu Arjun and Rana Daggubati. She won her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in the film.
Her first film release in 2017 was Si3, in which she was paired with Suriya for the third time in her career. Her next release was Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. Shetty received a positive response for her portrayal of Yuvarani Devasena. She earned her seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.
