Regina Cassandra

Early life

Regina was born to Tamil Parents in Chennai. Her mother tongue is Tamil.

Career

Regina started anchoring when she was nine for Splash, a kids' channel and then moved on to work in commercials. Aged 16, she shot for her first film, Kanda Naal Mudhal directed by V. Priya, which also starred Prasanna, Laila and Karthik Kumar. In the film, Regina portrayed Latha, the 21-year-old pregnant sister of Laila's character, and has since mentioned that people still find it hard to believe it was her in that role, as she was very young and wore no make-up. She then appeared alongside fellow newcomer Yogi in Azhagiya Asura, which won good reviews. However the film's low-key release meant that the film failed to gain attention, so she took time out from films and then went on to graduate in psychology from Women's Christian College, Chennai and took another year off before taking a final call on joining movies. During her break she also acted in several short films, most notably Balaji Mohan's Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi alongside Adith Arun, which was later made into a feature film in 2012 under the same name.

Regina was next seen in the Kannada film Suryakaanti by director K. M. Chaitanya of Aa Dinagalu fame. The film featured her alongside actor Chetan, and as she could not speak Kannada, she was told to act out scenes in English and add Kannada to it. The film won good reviews and performed moderately at the box office. It was announced that she would feature in the Tamil film Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey alongside Adith Arun, but the film was eventually delayed and then restarted with a fresh cast. In 2012, she appeared in Shiva Manasulo Shruti by Tatineni Sathya, which was a remake of the 2009 Tamil film Siva Manasula Sakthi. She was next seen in the Telugu romantic-comedy, Routine Love Story, alongside Sundeep Kishan, which she signed even before her first release in Telugu.

In 2013 she had two Tamil releases, Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga by Pandiraj, in which she was one of the two lead actresses, and Nirnayam in which she played a vital role. Although the former proved successful at the box office, she did not sign more films in Tamil and instead shifted her focus to Telugu films. Kotha Janta directed by Maruthi was Regina's first 2014 release. She received positive response for her performance in the film. Deccan Chronicle wrote, "The star of the film is undoubtedly Regina Cassandra. She looks cute and bubbly and delivers a delightful performance. She has done her character with ease and with the right expressions". Her next releases were Ra Ra... Krishnayya, which saw her reuniting with Sundeep Kishan, and Power in which she played a Bengali girl. Power was declared as one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and this is the biggest hit in Regina's career till date.

She played the lead role opposite Sai Dharam Tej in Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam directed by AS Ravi Kumar Chowdary. Her first 2015 release was the heist thriller Rajathandhiram which featured her as an Anglo-Indian girl named Michelle D' Mello. Her look in the film was revealed through social media. She played the lead role opposite Nara Rohit under the direction of Tatineni Satya in Sankara, which has been in production since 2013 and is scheduled to release by mid-2015.