Maya Viswanath

Maya Vishwanath is a Malayalam serial and cinema actress. She is well known for playing the  antagonist Heeramma in Asianet TV’s hit serial Amma (Mother). She is from Trivandrum. Maya was born to K.S Vishwanathan Nair, a retired Marketing Manager, and Rajalekshmi Bhai, a housewife. Her mother hails from the famous “Changanveedu” family of Trivandrum. She was one of the two children born to the couple. Her elder sister Meena S Kumar is an NRI. She says her greatest critics are her father, and her sister's son. She is friends with K.R Vijaya and Menaka Suresh.

Although a former Miss Trivandrum, her success was mainly limited to serials. She began acting in serials in 1996 but the role that caught the audience's eye was Kayamkulam Kochunni Click to look into! >> Read More... . She played Vazhanapalli Janaki, a women activist. The reception to her role was positive. After her role as the recalcitrant Janaki, audiences were surprised by her appearance in the serial Sreekrishna leela. She played the role of Maalu, the innocent confidant of K.R.Vijaya’s religiously faithful character named Kuroor Amma. Vishwanath then played the role of a police officer called Mayadevi in the popular serial Kunjikunnan (The Little Stooping man). In the serial Thulabharam, Maya Vishwanath played Bhanu Priya Bhanu Priya or Manga Bhama is a popular Indian TV >> Read More... , a model working in an advertising company. She also had a role in the devotional serial Devimahatmyam. Her role was unique compared to her previous roles. She played an innocent girl prone to tearful outbursts. She thanked director Siva Mohan Thampi for offering the role to her.

However, her debut in Malayalam cinema left a lot to be desired career-wise. Despite her role with industry veteran Mammootty in Kutty Shrank, she did not receive much offers. It is even more remarkable considering that she was chosen for the film from a screen test of more than 38 other actresses. In 2009, she made her debut in Tamil cinema. Directed by V. Gowthaman, Magizhchi was based on writer Neela Padmanabhan's novel Thalaimuraigal.

She began playing the villainous character Heeramma in Asianet TV’s Amma, which was launched in January 2012. Her performance was well received. It was only in 2013 that she acted in her next Malayali film, Anoop Ramesh’s Crocodile Love Story. It was released to mixed reviews. "Honestly, I do not know the answer to why I have not clicked so far in the Malayalam films. Maybe, my time is yet to come," Maya said in an interview. “I believe in myself. I feel that just as I took a fairly long time to come up in TV serials, I have a strong belief that soon I will be successful in films too," she added.

In addition to her role in Amma, she also began acting in Amrita TV's mega serial Suryakaladi Mana. Like her characters, Maya is outspoken and is not afraid to speak her mind. She attracted controversy by declaring Manju Warrier to be a lesser actor than Urvashi after the former's How Old Are You opened to rave reviews. Maya also expressed her opinion that Kanmadam and Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu are the only films in which Manju Warrier performed well.

In 2014, she was cast in director C.V. Premkumar's debut film Aal Roopangal. She co-starred with Nandu. The film looks at the life of a street vendor whose life is affected by an unexpected hartal (labour strike).

Maya Viswanath Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)