1. Anushka
Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), better known by her stage name Anushka Shetty is an Indian film actress and model who works predominantly in Telugu and Tamil films.
She made her acting debut through the 2005 Telugu film Super. She went on to star in a number of Telugu films such as Vikramarkudu (2006), Arundhati (2009), Vedam (2010), Rudramadevi (2015), Size Zero (2015) and Baahubali: The Beginning (2015). After starring in a series of high-budget productions, she established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema.She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the titular character in Arundhati (2009), and as Saroja in Vedam (2010), which fetched her two Filmfare, one Nandi and two CineMAA Awards. In the 2010s, Anushka also achieved success in Tamil cinema with the action films Singam (2010),its sequel Singam II (2013) and Yennai Arindhaal (2015). All three of them were big commercial successes, while her performances in Vaanam (2011), Deiva Thirumagal (2011) and Inji Iduppazhagi (2015) won her critical praise.
2. Amala Paul
Amala Paul is an Indian film actress, who works in the South Indian film industries. After appearing in supporting roles in the Malayalam film Neelathamara and Veerasekaran in Tamil, she received critical acclaim for the portrayal of a controversial character in the film, Sindhu Samaveli. Despite the failure of that film, Amala became noted after playing the title role in Mynaa, receiving critical acclaim for her work.
3. Trisha
Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983),known mononymously as Trisha, is an Indian film actress and model, who primarily works in the South Indian film industries, where she has established herself as a leading actress. She was noticed after winning several beauty pageants like the Miss Madras contest (1999), which marked her entry into filmdom.
After appearing in a supporting role in the 1999 Tamil film Jodi, she had her first lead role in the 2002 film Mounam Pesiyadhe. She later rose to fame starring in the successful films, Saamy (2003) and Ghilli (2004) in Tamil cinema and Varsham (2004) in Telugu cinema, for which she secured her first South Filmfare Best Actress Award. She went on to win the award two more times for Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (2005) and Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule (2007). In 2010, she made her Bollywood début in Khatta Meetha. She was seen in her career best performances in Abhiyum Naanum (2008) and Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010) for which she won Vijay Award for Favourite Heroine and was nominated for Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award.
4. Hansika
Hansika Motwani (born 9 August 1991 is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil and Telugu films. She made her film debut in the Telugu film Desamuduru (2007), winning the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South. She then appeared in a couple of high-budget Telugu films, including Kantri (2008) and Maska (2009). She started her career in Tamil cinema with Mappillai (2011) and then appeared in several commercially successful Tamil films including Velayudham (2011), Oru Kal Oru Kannadi (2012), Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru (2013) and Maan Karate (2014).
5. Tamanna
Tamannaah Bhatia (born 21 December 1989 is an Indian actress,who predominantly appears in Telugu and Tamil films. She has also appeared in a few Hindi films. Through her successful career, Tamannaah has become one of the most popular celebrities in South India. In addition to acting, she also participates in stage shows and is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products.
In 2005, she made her acting debut in the Bollywood film, Chand Sa Roshan Chehra and appeared in Abhijeet Sawant album song “Lafzon main” from the album Aapka Abhijeet which was also released in the year 2005, before working in Telugu cinema and Tamil cinema. In same year Tamannaah made her Telugu film debut in Sri, and in the following next year she appeared in her first Tamil movie, Kedi. In 2007, she starred in two college-life-based drama films, Happy Days in Telugu and Kalloori in Tamil.
6. Anjali
Anjali is an award-winning Indian film actress and model, who predominantly appears in Tamil, Telugu and a few Kannada films. Following a stint in modelling, she was cast in starring roles in two Telugu productions; her début film was the Telugu film Photo, which released in 2006, before bagging a role and gaining attention in the film Kattradhu Thamizh (2007), for which she received the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debutante. In 2010 and 2011, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil, for her performances in Angaadi Theru and Engaeyum Eppothum respectively, subsequently becoming recognised as one of the “finest young actors” in Tamil cinema, and noted for mostly playing “performance-oriented roles”. Her Telugu re-entry occurred through Journey (Telugu dubbing of Engaeyum Eppothum) got her Fame & Name in Tollywood. Followed by Journey, she appeared in string of successful films like Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Balupu, Masala, Geethanjali & Dictator Which made her as one of the Leading actresses in Telugu. In 2015, she appeared in a successful Kannada film Rana Vikrama along with actor Puneeth Rajkumar breaking her Seven year hiatus in Sandalwood after Honganasu which released in 2008.
7. Nayanthara
Diana Mariam Kurian (born 18 November 1984), better known by her stage name Nayanthara, is an Indian film actress who predominantly appears in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She is also the recipient of numerous awards.
Nayanthara made her acting debut in the 2003 Malayalam film Manassinakkare and followed with Vismayathumbathu (2004) before foraying into Tamil and Telugu cinema. She made her debut in Tamil cinema in 2005 with Ayya and a year later in Telugu with Lakshmi, after which she was the female lead in numerous commercially successful Tamil and Telugu films like Vallavan (2006), Dubai Seenu (2007), Tulasi (2007), Billa (2007), Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008), Adhurs (2010), Simha (2010), Boss Engira Bhaskaran (2010), Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012), Raja Rani (2013), Arrambam (2013), Masss (2015), Thani Oruvan (2015), Maya (2015), Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015) making her the highest paid actress in South Indian cinema.
In 2010, she also made her Kannada film debut through the Kannada-Telugu bilingual film Super, her only appearance in a Kannada film to-date. Her portrayal of Sita in Sri Rama Rajyam (2011) earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress and the Nandi Award for Best Actress. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress for her performance in Raja Rani (2013). Kochi Times listed her in the “List of 15 Most Desirable Women in 2014”.
8. Thapsi
Taapsee Pannu (born 1 August 1987) is an Indian model and actress, who mainly works in the South Indian film industry, though she has also appeared in Bollywood films. Taapsee worked as a software professional and also pursued a career in modelling before becoming an actress. During her modelling career, she appeared in a number of commercials and won titles such as “Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face” and “Safi Femina Miss Beautiful Skin” in 2008.
After a short stint with modelling, Taapsee made her acting debut with the 2010 Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam directed by Raghavendra Rao. Since then, she has appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films such as Aadukalam, Vastadu Naa Raju and Mr. Perfect. Her Tamil film Aadukalam won six National Film Awards at the 58th National Film Awards. She has also worked in a Malayalam film and has been signed on for three Telugu films and a Hindi film. She was awarded Most Enthusiastic Performer-Female Award at the 2014 Edison Awards for her performance in Tamil film Arrambam (2013). In 2015, she starred in the critically and commercially successful film Baby.
9. Lakshmi Rai
Raai laxmi (born as Lakshmi Rai on 5 May 1989) is an Indian film film actress and model who predominantly appears in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. She is also making her debut in Bollywood with the film Julie 2 (2016).
Rai has completed over a decade in the film industry, acting over 50 films in multiple languages.
10.Shreya
Shriya Saran (born as Shriya Saran Bhatnagar on 11 September 1982) also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model . She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada.
Saran was born in Dehradun and spent most of her childhood in Haridwar. In 2001, her dance master gave her the opportunity to appear in Renoo Nathan’s debut music video “Thirakti Kyun Hawa”, which brought Saran to the attention of many Indian filmmakers.
Although Saran aspired to become a well-known dancer, she was rather offered a leading role. Thus, Saran made her film debut in 2001 with the Telugu film Ishtam, and had her first commercial success with Santhosham (2002). She subsequently appeared in several more Telugu films, while making in-roads in the Hindi and Tamil film industries. In 2007, Saran starred in Sivaji, the highest-grossing Tamil film at that time. She also gained critical acclaim for her role in the 2007 Bollywood film Awarapan. In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, the American-Indian co-production The Other End of the Line. Her following projects included popular films such as Kanthaswamy (2009) in Tamil, and Pokkiri Raja (2010) in Malayalam, her roles in which established her as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industries. In 2012, she was cast in the British-Canadian film Midnight’s Children under the direction of Deepa Mehta, based on Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, for which she received international critical acclaim. She achieved further commercial success by starring in films such as Pavitra (2013) and Chandra (2013). In 2014, Shriya Saran starred in the critically acclaimed Telugu film Manam, which she received accolades for her performance.
Ranking based on no.of films and the successful.
