Shree Amma Yanger, better known as Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963 in Sivakasi, a town in Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu. Her father`s name was Ayyapan (a lawyer) and her mother`s name was Rajeswari. Sridevi has a sister, Srilatha. She has two step brothers from her father`s previous marriage. Her mother tongue is Tamil.
Sridevi started her career as a child artist in the Tamil movie Kandhan Karunai (1967) and acted in many Tamil and Telugu movies as she grew up. Some examples of her notable Malayalam movies are: ‘Aadhyapaadam’, ‘Aalinganam’, ‘Kuttavum Sikshaiyum’, ‘Aa Nimisham’. In 1976, she got her first big break as a heroine in K. Balachander`s ‘Moondru Mudichu’, where she starred opposite Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth. In many ways, this movie was a landmark in Tamil filmdom.
During the same time, Sridevi also made inroads into Telugu language movies. She acted with all major heroes in Telugu.
It was with ‘Solva Sawan’ (1979) that she entered Bollywood, to remain an inseparable part of the Hindi film industry. Though the film bombed at the box-office, Sridevi was noticed. However, her second movie, ‘Himmatwala’, went on to be a big success and established her status in Bollywood. The film also earned her the famous nickname Thunder Thighs. The film made Jeetendra and Sridevi a popular pair with the audiences and the duo went on to star in several hits like ‘Tohfa’, ‘Mawaali’ and ‘Justice Chaudhry’. In 1983, Sridevi also starred opposite Kamal Hasan in the critically acclaimed drama ‘Sadma’, which is often cited by critics as the most definitive child-woman performance of Sridevi`s career.
Sridevi’s father died while she was filming ‘Lamhe’, her mother while she was making ‘Judaai’. Although it is the Hindu custom that the son lights the funeral pyre, Sridevi lit the pyre for her mother`s last rites.
Sridevi has acted opposte many top actors of bollywood, from Jeetendar, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty to Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol and among the younger generation, she starred opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar amongst others. She is also producing many of Boney Kapoor`s films like ‘Shakti’ (2002), making her mark behind the camera also.