Annapurna Prabhakar (born 9 November 1980) is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Kannada-language films.
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Early life
Anu was born in Bangalore on 9 November 1980 to M. V. Prabhakar (died 2003), an engineer with Bharat Heavy Electricals, and Gayathri, a dubbing artiste and actress. Anu grew up in the Malleswaram suburb of Bangalore, and studied in the Nirmala Rani High School. She appeared as a child artiste in Kannada films, and an English television series titled The Mysteries of the Dark Jungle (1990). She dropped out of college when her career as a lead actress took off. She later went on to pursue a master's degree in sociology from Karnataka University through correspondence.
Career
Anu received her first acting offer in 1989 to appear in Chapala Chennigaraya (1990). After working for four years in other films such as Swarna Samsara (1990), Shanti Kranti (1991) and Obbarigintha Obbaru (1992), she enrolled in Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, to study commerce. At this stage, Anu aspired to become an airhostess. However, she was cast as lead opposite Shiva Rajkumar in Hrudaya Hrudaya (1999), produced under the banner Sri Vaishnavi Combines. The film emerged as a commercial success, as was her other release of the year, Snehaloka. Reviewer Srikanth Srinivasa of Deccan Herald, while writing that she needed improvement in her dialogue delivery and diction, wrote that she "comes a whiff of fresh air to the Kannada film industry". On her portrayal as the love interest of Ramesh Aravind's character in Snehaloka, Srinivasa stated that she was "a sweet delight to watch."
Anu would go on to form a popular pair with Ramesh Aravind. She has co-starred with Vishnuvardhan in several films like Soorappa, Jamindarru, Hrudayavantha, Sahukara and Varsha. Anu has acted in a few Tamil movies as well. In 2009, she gave her voice to an HIV/AIDS education animated software tutorial created by nonprofit organisation TeachAids. In her yet-to-release film based on the life of 12th-century Kannada poet Akka Mahadevi, she played a dual role: one of the poet and the other of Jyothi, a girl who pursues PhD on the poet.
Personal life
Anu first married Krishna Kumar, an engineer with the telecommunication department, and son of actress Jayanthi, in March 2002. After 12 years of marriage, the couple applied for a divorce by mutual consent in January 2014. On 25 April 2016, Anu married model-turned-actor Raghu Mukherjee. They have a daughter named Nandana.
Filmography
Note: all films are in Kannada, unless otherwise noted.
Television
The Mysteries of the Dark Jungle (1990; English)
Bale Bangara
Home Minister
Shrimati Karnataka
Manju Musukida Haadi
Nooru Dinagalu
Triveni Sangama
Nannamma Super Star (Judge)
