Chinnu Chandni Nair

Chinnu Chandni is an Indian actress best known for films Thamaasha (2019), Vishesham (2024), Bheemante Vazhi (2021) and Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (2016).

Born to an Indian Malayali family, Chandni spent most of her formative years in Tanzania, along with her father who was a photographer, her mom a home-maker and her younger sister. During their high school, the sisters moved back to Kerala and she completed her schooling between Holy Angels ISC school and Carmel Girls. Having caught the acting bug early on during her studies in Tanzania, Chandni continued to be an active part of school plays and took interest to sports and other arts. She is trained in classical Indian dance and music, to play the violin and keyboard, and various martial arts. It was during her college days at All Saints College that she actively engaged in inter-university and state level sporting events, including boxing, rugby, football and cricket. During this time, she undertook Krav Maga training from Mumbai. It was during her college days that she started pursuing acting with more clarity and started training further under the tutelage of notable theatre practitioners. She enrolled at the Centre for Performing Arts, University of Kerala and successfully completed her MPhil in theatre and films.

During one of her many stage performances, Ajai Rahul (writer), then casting-director, happened to see her performance and invited her to audition for the movie he was casting for. She began her professional acting career playing a supporting role in the film Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (2016) (2016). Though minor, her role in the movie, as a supportive best-friend to the character played by Rajisha Vijayan, earned her a lot of appreciation. She went on to play a similar role in the 2017 film Cappuccino (2017).

In 2019, she played the lead role in the movie Thamaasha (2019), which was also a break-out role for her. Her sensitive portrayal of her namesake in the movie, has garnered her a space in the yet to be written milestones of Malayalam cinema. Along with her co-star, Vinay Forrt, the pair has been lauded as a welcome change in the cinemascape of the land, where the leads of a film are also representative of the people that watch it. As a film that tackles body shaming, and cyber bullying, the movie was an instant hit, earning both critical and commercial success. Chandni won a handful of best-actress awards for her sensitive portrayal of Chinnu in the film.

She then appeared in Ashraf Hamza's second directorial, Bheemante Vazhi (2021) (2021). Her portrayal of Anju, the judo instructor and the pivotal role she plays in the last quarter of the movie, has been much discussed, along with the real and nuanced portrayal of all the women characters in the movie. She has said in a few interviews that she practiced Judo with an instructor in preparation for her role in the movie.

Her next few releases Jackson Bazaar Youth (2023), Kaathal - The Core (2023), Golam (2024), and Vishesham (2024) brought her commercial and critical appreciation and has placed her name at par with the names to look out for in the Malayalam film landscape. Chandni has been generally praised for bringing in a fresh air of relatability and positiveness in portrayal of the characters she plays, and has been lauded for heralding the presence of positive plus-size portrayals of women especially as a heroine in Malayalam cinema. Her choice in films has been discussed by film lovers as well.

Her latest film, in pre-production, is Munnottu. She shuttles her time between Mumbai, Cochin and Trivandrum where her family is.