Lakshmi Devy

Last updated

Lakshmi Devy
Born
New York, United States
Occupations
  • Actress
  • screenwriter
  • producer
  • director
Years active2010–present
Known for When the Music Changes

Lakshmi Devy is an American actress and screenwriter who has acted in films in the English, Tamil, and Malayalam languages. She won the Remi Award for best director for her film When the Music Changes in 2021. She started her screenwriting career with the Tamil film Masala Padam, in which she also played the lead role. After starting her career as a theatre artist and model, Devy played her first leading role in Nil Gavani Sellathey (2010), directed by Anand Chakravarthy.

Contents

In addition to acting in films, she is the principal of a film production company, FiDi Talkies, in the United States.

Personal life

Devy was born into a family of doctors and engineers in New York where she spent most of her early life. Her mother is a nephrologist and father is a travelogue writer and published author, and they run a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, India. [1] [2] She did her primary education in New York [3] and completed medical school in India, during which she pursued modelling, dance, and theatre. [4] Devy is a medical doctor and started her film career while she was in medical college. [1]

Career

Lakshmi started her acting career with the Anand Chakravarthy directorial Nil Gavani Sellathey in which she played the main lead role. [5] She later starred in numerous South Indian movies including Cinema Company and critically acclaimed Tamil-language action comedy film Masala Padam , which was also her original screenplay debut. [6] [7] [8]

In 2017, Devy founded FiDi Talkies, a New York-based production company and made her directorial debut with a short film 'Daro Mat' in which she played the protagonist. The film was screened in multiple international film festivals and won several awards. She started her career as a film director in 2020 with the film When the Music Changes which is produced by FiDi Talkies and actor-director John Turturro. [9]

Filmography

Denotes films that are in pre-production
YearFilmRoleNotes
2010 Nil Gavani Sellathey PriyaTamil film
2012 Cinema Company RoshniMalayalam film
2015 Masala Padam DiyaTamil film, Also screenwriter
2017Daro MatDivyaShort film, Also director, screenwriter and producer
2018A Happy DivorceRebecca
2022When the Music ChangesDebut as film director

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References

  1. 1 2 "Lakshmi in a spooky avatar". The New Indian Express. June 18, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Don't Be Afraid's Lakshmi Devy's Voyage From Medicine To Filmmaking". Urban Asian. September 21, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Interview: Lakshmi Devy | EMR Media". emrmedia.com.
  4. ↑ "Meet Lakshmi Devy: A South Asian-American who Chose to Pursue her Inner Movie Star Over her Career in Medicine". June 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda (September 20, 2017). "Don Buchwald & Associates Adds Cassandra Freeman; Bohemia Group Signs Lakshmi Devy". Deadline.
  6. ↑ R, Balajee C. (September 11, 2017). "Making waves in the west". Deccan Chronicle.
  7. ↑ Subhakeerthana, S. (August 15, 2015). "Lakshmi Devy: On being a heroine and a screenplay writer". Deccan Chronicle.
  8. ↑ "Lakshmi Devy pens screenplay for Masala Padam". The Times of India.
  9. ↑ "Lakshmi Devy's New Movie "When the music changes" grimly portrays our sadistic sexist ways of Rape Culture". The Week. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
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