Vinaya Prasad (also credited as Vinaya Prakash) born as Vinaya Bhat is a popular film and television actress in South India who has primarily featured in Kannada and Malayalam films, TV series besides acting in a few Tamil and Telugu language films. She has won the State Best Actress Award for her performances in Aathanka (1993) and Bannada Hejje (2001). The senior actress in her career has shared screen space with Chiranjeevi, Vishnuvardhan, Rajinikanth, Mohanlal, Ambareesh, Venkatesh, Ananth Nag, Akkineni Nagarjuna, V. Ravichandran, Shivrajkumar, Mahesh Babu, N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and others.

Career[edit]

Vinaya Prasad hails from Udupi district of Karnataka state. Vinaya made her film debut with a small role in G V Iyer's Madhwacharya in 1988. She worked in smaller character roles before playing the leading lady in Ganeshana Maduve opposite Anant Nag. The film was a huge success and she went on to act in more than 60 films in not only Kannada but also Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Some of her notable Kannada films include, Ganeshana Maduve, Neenu Nakkare Haalu Sakkare, Gauri Ganesha, Mysore Jaana and Suryodaya. After a successful career as a lead actress, Vinaya switched over to character roles in South Indian films and remains a sought after actress in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. Vinaya is also an effective compere and singer. Vinaya has compered several important events like Vasantha Habba in Nrityagram and the annual Dasara procession in Mysore.

She starred in a few Malayalam films also before starring in the longest-running and most popular daily soap opera on Malayalam TV, Sthree which aired from late 1998 to mid 2000 on Asianet Television channel. The Kannada version of this serial was also made. The popularity of this soap made her a household name among Malayalis.

She starred in a supporting role in the all-time blockbuster Manichitrathazhu, which starred Mohanlal. In Tamil, Vinaya has acted as the heroine in the hit movie Thaikulame Thaikulame with Pandiarajan and Urvashi in the lead roles. In Telugu, Vinaya's movies include Indra, Donga Dongadi and Andhrudu for which her performance won a lot of praise.

In 2006, she returned to the Malayalam small screen to reprise her role as Indu in the sequel to the original Sthree, also named, Sthree.

Personal life[edit]

Vinaya is from the Udupi district in Karnataka and was brought up in Udupi. She is a Karhade Brahmin. She was first married in 1988 to V.R.K Prasad, an award-winning director and editor of Kannada films who expired in 1995 at a young age. The couple had a daughter, Prathama Prasad.

She married then Jyotiprakash, a former widower, in 2002. Vinaya currently resides in Bangalore with her husband, Jyotiprakash and daughter, Prathama Prasad. Jyotiprakash already has a son named Jai Atre from his previous marriage who is also in to film direction and screen-writing in Mumbai.^[1]

Filmography[edit]

Teleseries[edit]

Tv Programmes[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Awards won

• 1992-1993 : Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress (Aathanka)
• 1999-2000: Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (Bannada Hejje)
• 2007 : Asianet television awards for Best Actress (Sthree 2)
• 2009 : Asia Vision Award for Best popular actress in Television (Priyamanasi)
• 2017 : RED FM Tulu Film Awards

Best supporting actress (Pannoda Bodhcha)

Nominated

• 2011 Filmfare Awards South- Best Supporting Actress -Malayalam (Marykkundoru Kunjaadu)

References[edit]

1. ^[1]Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine

External links[edit]

• Vinaya Prasad on IMDb