Samantha Ruth Prabhu (born 28 April 1987) is an Indian film actress and model, who mainly works in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. Samantha was raised in Chennaiand pursued a career in modelling during her late teens. Despite signing up to Ravi Varman's Moscowin Kavery in 2007, her first release was the critically acclaimed 2010Telugu romance film, Ye Maaya Chesavedirected by Gautham Menon, which fetched her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South. She went on to appear in several commercially successful Telugu films. In mid 2012, Samantha started a charity organization named Pratyusha Support for the underprevileged woman and children.

In 2013, Samantha became the second actress after Revathi to win both the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress and the Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress in the same year, for the films Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Eega, respectively. She received SIIMA award for Best Actress - Telugu for Attarintiki Daredi in 2014.

Early life and family

Samantha Ruth Prabhu was born to a Malayali mother and a Telugu father on 28 April 1987 and was brought up in a typical middle-class household, in the Chennai suburb of Pallavaram, Tamil Nadu, becoming fluent in the Tamil language Commenting on her sense of identity, the actress has stated that despite her ethnic background she sees herself as a Tamilan, as she was brought up speaking the language along with English at home.Samantha attended and completed her schooling at St.Stephens Matriculation school, Pallavaram, and Holy Angels Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, T.Nagar, Chennai. She then went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Stella Maris College, Chennai. Samantha has said that she did modelling for earning pocket money, and that acting happened to her. In 2013, the actress decided to shift base from Chennai to Hyderabad. 

Career

Debut in 2010

Samantha's first release was Indira Productions' Gautham Menon directed Telugu film, Ye Maaya Chesave. The film, simultaneously made in Tamil as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, created much anticipation prior to release, due primarily to the first-time-collaboration between Gautham Menon and composer A. R. Rahman. The actress was signed up for the project in mid August 2009 and completed shoots across India and the United States, and the film was released on 26 February 2010.  In the film, Samantha plays the lead character Jessie, which was also the working title of the film, a Malayali Saint Thomas Christian girl living in Hyderabad, with whom the male protagonist, played by Naga Chaitanya, falls in love. Upon release of the film, Samantha received very positive reviews for her portrayal, with the film itself garnering much critical acclaim. Critics at Sify praised Samantha as a "scene-stealer" and her beauty as "alluring", adding that "she was the girl to watch out for". Jeevi, from the Idlebrain reviews site, wrote that "Samantha's debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema" and noted that the "minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her", whilst labelling the film as a "classic". Samantha, alongside her co-star, Naga Chaitanya, also appeared in a cameo role in the Tamil version of the film. Both the Telugu and the Tamil versions of the films proved to be grand successes, propelling Samantha's career into bigger projects. She followed up her collaborations with Gautham Menon and A. R. Rahman by appearing in the music video for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 promotional song, Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam, which Menon directed and Rahman composed.

Samantha's next release was the Sathya Jyothi-produced romantic drama, Baana Kaathadi, opposite Adharvaa. The film was actually the third Tamil project signed by the actress, but its release preceded the first two that she was contracted for due to delays in their completion. Following terms agreed upon in early 2009, the film continued shoots for a year, and after several postponements finally released in August 2010 to positive response. In the film, Samantha plays a student of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the first such role in Tamil cinema. Her next release wasRavi Varman's Moscowin Kavery, originally her very first contract. The shooting for the film began in August 2007, with Samantha, then briefly credited with the screen name Yasodha, joining the team later in the year. The film introduced a host of new actors, with the music scored by Thaman, who was making his debut as a film music director. In an interview, much prior to release in 2008, Ravi Varman mentioned that he had decided that Samantha would be the lead actress for his film within three minutes after viewing one of her commercial assignments. In the interview, he went on to describe her as an actress with "intelligence" and "potential", whilst drawing comparisons with the noted actress,Revathi. However, due to Ravi Varman's prior commitments as cinematographer in other projects, the film languished in development hell, eventually releasing in August 2010.The film earned poor reviews from critics unanimously. However Samantha's performance was credited as one of the sole highlights that the film offered.In August 2008, while still completing her last three projects, Samantha also signed up to play the lead role of a modern girl in the Narain starrer, Pookada Ravi. However, despite the shooting following schedule at regular intervals the project has stalled since 2009, and the film seems unlikely to be released. Samantha went on to feature in Vamsi Paidipally's Telugu film Brindaavanam in which she had a supporting role alongside NTR Jr and Kajal Aggarwal. Her performance as Indu was well received despite the role having a shorter screen time than the ones she had played in her previous films, and the film became her second successful one in Telugu. 

2011 – 2013

In 2011, Samantha made a guest appearance as a mentally ill patient in Gautham Menon's Nadunisi Naaygal, before featuring in the big budget Telugu film, Dookudu, alongsideMahesh Babu. The film was a blockbuster. The film opened to positive review with critics from CNN-IBN labelling the film as "a treat for Mahesh's fans", adding that Samantha "looks good in song sequences" The Times of Indiaalso praised the film mentioning that "Samantha looks beautiful and has done a great job, though her role as Prashanthi isn't too lengthy". The film took the largest ever opening for a Telugu film and grossed  125.8 million on the first day of its release. Samantha was then signed as the female lead in two big budget projects in Tamil, Mani Ratnam's Kadal and Shankar's Ai but was forced to opt out from both films, since she was suffering from a skin disease and could not work for two months. In 2012, she made a guest appearance in Gautham Menon's Ekk Deewana Tha which was the remake of director's own films, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa andYe Maaya Chesave, repeating her role from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. She then featured in S. S. Rajamouli's live action Telugu-Tamil bilingual project Eega/Naan E, The film was a high commercial success—according to The Economic Times it grossed more than  1.25 billion—and went on to be dubbed in several foreign and Indian languages. Idlebrain in their review wrote, "Samantha's run of success continues as she did extremely well as a bereaved lover." She then signed on Gautham Menon's trilingual project, playing the female lead in all three languages – Telugu, Tamil and Hindi and shooting all scenes thrice with different co-actors across languages. The Telugu and Tamil versions titled Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu and Neethaane En Ponvasantham released in December 2012, while the Hindi version, Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau has been shelved.

In the beginning of 2013, she appeared in Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu that featured Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in the lead, marking her second film with Mahesh Babu. The film was critically and commercially successful and her performance was praised by critics along with the other female lead, Anjali. Mahesh S Koneru of 123telugu.com commented on her performance stating "Samantha is beautiful and adorable in this movie. Her cute expressions and romantic scenes with Mahesh Babu make you want to root for her". IBN Live too commented positively on her performance stating "Good to see Samantha shed her glamorous side and welcome performance-oriented roles, which she only handles with deftness and ease". Later, in February, she played the lead role inNandini Reddy's Jabardasth co-starring Siddharth. The film, which was an unofficial remake of the 2010 Hindi film Band Baaja Baaraat was commercially unsuccessful. Oneindia Entertainment in their review commented "Samantha has good scope in the film and her bubbly characterisation is entertaining. The actress will surely impress you in both romantic and emotional sequences. Her belly dance in the song 'Meghamala' is very hot". She then starred in Trivikram Srinivas' Attharintiki Daaredhi with Pawan Kalyan, which released to positive reviews and became the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year. Samantha's next film Ramayya Vasthavayya directed by Harish Shankar, featuring NTR Jr released to mixed reviews on 11 October 2013. 

2014 onwards

Samantha's first 2014 release Manam saw her playing the role of a mother for the first time in her career.The film received highly positive reviews and Samantha's performance was praised by the critics. Deccan Chronicle wrote, "for Samantha, this is going to be one of her best performance till date. She perfectly fits into the two characters she played and steals the show". Her next film was the long delayed Autonagar Surya under the direction of Deva Katta that saw her pairing with Naga Chaitanya for the third time. The film, which had been in production since 2010, opened to mixed reviews. Her next releases were the high budget action-masala films Alludu Seenu directed by V. V. Vinayak and Rabhasa directed by Santosh Srinivas in Telugu and N. Lingusamy's Anjaan in Tamil. Anjaan opened to negative reviews and was declared flop at the box office.Her performance was panned by critics and Rabhasa, which was Samantha's third film with producer Bellamkonda Suresh in a three film contract, opened to decent reviews. Samantha's next release was the Tamil action thriller Kaththi directed by acclaimed director AR Murugadoss starring popular actor Vijay in the lead role got released on Diwali 2014 to highly positive reviews from critics and audience.The movie set the biggest opening for a South Indian film worldwide and was declared blockbuster hit.

Her next releases of films will be in 2015. She is currently filming for Vijay Milton's 10 Enradhukulla in Tamil and Trivikram Srinivas's next untitled film in Telugu. Samantha was also reported to have been signed for Lingusamy's next film Yenni Yezhu Naal. 

Other work(s)

Samantha has been a brand ambassador for Coca Cola, Mayil Mark Rice, Chik Shampoo, Gokul Sandiva, Big C Mobiles, Saravana Stores, Odonil Room Freshening Gel, Dabur Vatika Hair Oil, Lux and Paragon. Samantha will endorse Nutrogena. Samantha was on the cover page of JFW (Just For Woman) Magazine's 7th year anniversary edition.

Philanthropy

Samantha is associated with a campaign supporting the children suffering from the disease Hemophilia, since October 2012. She has been attending various awareness camps by the NGO to show her support for the same, since then on. In one such event, Samantha stated, "I was upset for two months and took break from work due to a health issue. I can understand how children diagnosed with hemophilia, a cureless genetic disease feels".She is the Founder of NGO Pratyusha Support, a charity organisation working in the area of Medical support to poor and needy children and women also with threatening diseases. The organisation has supported many less privileged women and children by aiding them on financial grounds. Recently Pratyusha Support got support from Livlife Hospital, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad due to the efforts of Samantha. The NGO fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, to enrich their experience of living”Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu, said on the occasion. In October 2014, she was invited for Food for Change - a charitty event for the underprevileged. With that they could collect monetary help to fund education of 200,000 children. Recently,on 8 October 2014 Samantha along with Dr. Manjula did a vaccination campaign for Hepatitis-B virus in Happy home Orphanage.

Personal life

In an interview with The Times of India in 2012, Samantha revealed that she was "deeply in love and quite happy in her relationship". She stated, "We are going very strong and I am very happy". However the actress refused to reveal the person's identity. She is a close friend of costume designer Neeraja Kona. Samantha has hinted that she would retire from acting and concentrate on something else in near future. Samantha said post marriage she will not make comeback to acting