Sudha Rani

Jayashree, known by her screen name Sudha Rani, is an Indian actress, voice artist and former model. She has primarily worked in Kannada films in addition to a few Telugu, Tulu and Malayalam films. As on Feb 2024, she has acted in about 150 films across industries.

As a child artist, she acted in Kiladi Kittu (1978), Kulla Kulli (1980), Anupama (1981) Bhagyavantha and Ranganayaki (1981). She debuted as a lead actress at age 13 with Anand (1986). She has won the Filmfare Awards and the Karnataka State Film Awards twice for her performances in Panchama Veda (1990) and Mysore Mallige (1992).

Early years
Sudha Rani was born into "a conservative Brahmin family" of H. S. Gopalakrishna and Nagalakshmi. The family lived in the Malleswaram suburb of Bengaluru. Sudha Rani aspired to be a doctor since most of her relatives were into academics with many doctors among them. Her uncle was eminent film personality, Chi. Udaya Shankar.

Sudha Rani was educated at St. Thomas school, in its Malleswaram and Seshadripura branches, and recalled reading books being her pastime as a child. She first faced camera for an advertisement for Kwality Biscuits when she was two-and-a-half years old. The cameraman of the advertisement recommended her name to director of the 1978 film, Kiladi Kittu, who cast her to play the younger version of Kavitha's character and her brother as the younger version of Rajinikanth's character. Her mother enrolled Sudha Rani in dance classes at age five; she would train in Kuchipudi and Bharata Natyam. At age 7, she was roped in by her brother for his short film based on children, titled as Child is Here which won an international award. She also actively participated in the children shows at the Prabhat Kalavidaru theatre troupe.

Film career
Sudha Rani made her first appearance in television as a child in the Kwality biscuits advertisement when she was two and a half years old. She made her debut in Kannada cinema as a child artist at the age of three with the film Kiladi Kittu starring Vishnuvardhan and Rajinikanth. Sudha Rani was noticed by producer Parvathamma Rajkumar in a thread ceremony video when she was 12 and selected to be the heroine for the film Anand (1986) opposite Shiva Rajkumar and the film became a commercial success. They became a popular pair and she went on to appear in more films as Mana Mechchida Hudugi, Samara, Aasegobba Meesegobba and Midida Shruthi opposite Shiva Rajkumar. She was paired with Ramesh Aravind in over eight films, including Panchama Veda, Shrigandha, Aragini, Ganda Mane Makkalu, Varagala Bete, Balondu Chaduranga, Accident and Anuraga Sangama. Her Tamil films Annakili Sonna Kathai and Vasanthakala Paravai, proved to be commercial successes. She acted in almost 10 Tamil films and was credited as Shali.

Personal life
Sudha Rani married a U.S.-based anesthesia specialist, Dr. Sanjay in 1996. However citing irreconcilable differences, they parted ways in 1998. Later, she married Govardhan in 2000 and has a daughter Nidhi, born in 2001.