Sumathi | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Other names | Baby Sumathi, Sumi |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1966–1989 |
| Relatives | Master Prabhakar (brother) |
Sumathi is an Indian actress from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She started her career at the age of two. She starred in many Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi language films.[citation needed]
Sumathi was born in Madurai a city in Tamil Nadu India. Her father and mother were originally from Madurai. Her father managed several businesses such as photo studio and printing press. Her mother, was a housewife taking care of Sumathi and her seven brothers and three sisters. Her elder brother Master Prabhakar was the first one in the family to enter the film industry.[1][2]
In 1966, Sumathi moved in with her Aunt along with Prabhakar to pursue her dreams. Sumathi entered the film industry when a director was looking for a young baby to play a role in a Malayalam film along with veteran actor Bharath Gopi.
Sumathi is married and settled in America with their daughter and son.
She started her film career in Tamil movies as a child actress (Baby Sumathi) by playing the role of daughter of Gopi in the late 60's. She appeared in many children's movies. She played dual roles and in some movies acted as a boy. Soon she moved to Telugu and Malayalam films, where she starred in many films.
As Baby Sumathi grew up, she took to modeling and started endorsing many products. She has won many Nandi and Filmfare awards as a child. She acted many films with her third elder brother Master Prabhakar and second younger brother Kumar. As soon as her brothers entered the film industry, most of her family members were interested to go on the same line. Sumathi's cousin was a well known actress who was successful in various Tamil films. Sumathi's other cousins were cinematography and assistant directors. Sumathi also dubbed for many actresses in the past in many languages.
In her acting career, she was often stereotyped as the girl next door. She acted with many stars such as M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Jaya Bachchan, Manorama, Nagesh, Rajinikanth, Jayalalithaa, Ambika, and Bhagyaraj to name a few. Her debut film, as heroine, was Bhagyaraj's directorial debut; Suvarillatha Chithirangal (1978) in Tamil. She gave up her acting career at the peak after her marriage in 1989 to move to America.
Baby Sumathi is a three-time winner Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist (female).[3]