Bhanu Priya (Telugu: భానుప్రియ ) is an Indian actress. She was a former leading actress of the Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam film industries from 1980 to 1993. She also acted in few Bollywood films in the 1990s.

Early life[link]

She was born in Rangampeta village, which is near to Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh, on 15 January 1966 in a Telugu family and was settled in Chennai, Tamil Nadu at a very young age.

Her sister Nishanthi, known as Shantipriya (actress), has also acted in several films, including the biggest hit, Enga ooru paatukran (1988). She was also seen on national small screen TV sci-fi epic Aaryamaan - Brahmaand Ka Yoddha opposite Mukesh Khanna, in 2002. Her sister JyothiPriya is also a television and film actress.

Career[link]

Bhanupriya has acted in over 111 films as a heroine in various languages. She made her debut in the Telugu movie Sitaara, directed by veteran Vamsy, which was a big hit.^{[citation needed]} She has acted in over 55 Telugu films, about 40 Tamil films, 14 Hindi films and a few Malayalam and Kannada films.

Bhanupriya began her film acting career when she was just 17 years old. Her first film was Mella Pesungal (1983) in Tamil. In Telugu it was Sitaara (1983).

Trained in classical dance, all her critically acclaimed movies were based on the subject of classical dance, like Vamsy's Sitara and veteran K. Vishwanath's Swarnakamalam in Telugu and Sathyan Anthikkad's Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal in Malayalam. She is also part of Mani Ratnam's stage show Netru, Indru, Naalai. Banupriya's excellent Bharathanatyam dancing skills are much appreciated in her films.^{[citation needed]}

Her performance were well appreciated by her senior artist and her co-stars. Tamil Cinema's ace actor, Sivaji Ganesan had mentioned in one of his interviews that Bhanupriya is the only actress from the younger generation with matchable acting ability as Savithri and Padmini. Telugu Superstar Chiranjeevi mentioned that he enjoyed the chemistry with other actresses while dancing but with Bhanupriya he missed out on that as she always concentrated on the technical aspects of her footwork and treated him as a competitor instead of a co-star. Khushboo had mentioned in an interview that one role that she would not be able to do justice would be the role Bhanupriya enacted in "Aararo Ariraro".

Bhanupriya is now based in Chennai and planning to direct a film, with classical dance as lead role^{[citation needed]} She had also acted in a television serial, Shakthi, shown over in Sun Network channels. She is famous for her expressions using her eyes, which led her to a career in modelling. Her most famous ad was of Eyetex, a popular eyeliner. Cinematographer and director P.C.Sriram once described her as having the most beautiful and photogenic face among south Indian movie actresses.

Personal life[link]

Bhanupriya married Adarsh Kaushal, an award-winning photographer based in the United States and son of famous Bharatanatyam artist Sumathi kaushal in United States. They have a daughter. Now, they are settled in Chennai.

Filmography[link]

Telugu[link]

Tamil[link]