From childhood acting to leaving a mark on the entire region

If there was a multi-lingual movie marathon, you would see her in all the films - Kavitha Ranjini, known by her stage name Urvashi, having acted in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu cinemas.

If there was a multi-lingual movie marathon, you would see her in all the films; Source: Times of India

They call her Urvashi onstage, but her actual name is Kavitha Ranjini. Born on the 25th of January, 1969, she is one of the most prominent Malayali and Tamil actresses of the 1980s and 1990s. Born to parents with a well-established name in the field of drama, Chavara VP Nair and Vijayalakshmi, she was also interested in pursuing movies from a very young age. This was clearly indicated when she studied only till the 9th grade and dropped out of school to pursue cinema.

Even before dropping from school, she had become a child artist by the age of 8, having acted in Vidarunna Mottukal, a movie released in 1977.

More movies followed till 1986 when she was cast as the lead heroine only at the age 13 in Thodarum Uravu, completed in 1983. In the meantime, she starred in more hit films like Munthanai Mudichchu and Ethirppukal - with the former being in the Tamil cinema and the latter being in Malayalam. Her career would come to be defined by these two cinemas, where she acted frequently. Her career spans five languages - Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. She has acted in all the major Southern Indian languages as well as Hindi, amassing a huge fan following.

Overall, her filmography clocks hundreds of films and documentaries, short stories etc. Added to these are advertisements and stage shows. Interestingly, for movies like Kazhakam, released in 1995, which won numerous awards, she never charged any money for remuneration. Having performed voice credits, dubbing, story writing, producing and even singing in recent times, her memory does not fade so easily when compared to many other actors.

She has received National Film Awards for the best-supporting actress, many Kerala State Film Awards - five of them to be precise, and a couple of Tamil Nadu state film awards, just to name a few.