Shriya Saran is an Indian film actress. Shriya Saran was born as second child to 'Neeraja' and 'Pushpendra Saran'. She was brought up in Ranipur, Haridwar, the holy city. She has an elder brother 'Abhiroop', who is married to Arti. She has completed her schooling from Delhi Public School, New Delhi. She has done B.A. (Literature) from Lady Sri Ram College(LSR). She has a serious interest in classical dancing, and is an accomplished Kathak dancer, under the guidance of her guru Shobha Narayan. She started her career as a model and this led to roles in advertisements and in music albums.
Shriya started her movie acting career with the Telugu film Ishtam (2001), produced by Usha Kiran Movies. This first film didn't fare too well at the box office, but she was noticed by many Telugu producers and directors. Soon she signed for Nagarjuna's Santosham (2002), which was a major hit and she didn't have to turn back since then. She was very lucky to get the most coveted chance to act opposite none other than Chiranjeevi at a very early point in her career. After the huge success of Tagore she became one of the top actresses of the south Indian film industry. Her later movies, such as Nuvve Nuvve and Bhageeratha, earned her many accolades. She had one of the biggest hits in her career with Chatrapati opposite Prabhas. Shriya is also endorses for large brands like LUX and Head&Shoulders. She made her Tamil movie debut in Enakku 20 Unakku 18 (2003), casted along with Telugu actor Tarun, Trisha Krishnan. The film was an average hit at box-office, but it was more importantly a musical hit due to music composed by A. R. Rahman. She had plenty of glamorous roles lined up for her in Tamil, but instead continued with Tollywood for a year. She has made her comeback in Kollywood through the film Mazhai with Jayam Ravi. The movie did well at the box-office. She beat other top actresses for the much coveted role with Rajinikanth in Shankar's Sivaji: The Boss which is the by far the costliest Indian film till date. Most recently she appeared opposite Vijay in Azhagiya Tamil Magan and she is currently filming with Vikram in Kanthaswamy.