Jayanthi Biography

Jayanthi is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 500 films, including films in the Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi languages.

Jayanthi was born in Bellary. Her maiden name before she came to films was Kamala Kumari. Her father Balasubramanyam worked as an English professor at the St Joseph's College in Bangalore. Her mother was Santhanalakshmi. Jayanthi was the eldest of three siblings and had two younger brothers. Jayanthi's childhood was never smooth. Her parents separated early in life and her mother took the children and moved to Madras.

Jayanthi's mother was keen on making her daughter a classical dancer and hence she joined a dance school run by Chandrakala. Her friend in dance school is the now famous Tamil actress Manorama.

Jayanthi's life changed completely when noted Kannada director Y R Swamy spotted her during one of her dance rehearsals. He brought her to Kannada films and she starred in movies such as Jenu Goodu. He also changed her name to Jayanthi.

Jayanthi was paired with actor Rajkumar in a record number of films of 45. This is the highest ever number of films which Rajkumar has ever been paired with any actress.