Malavika Wales – South Indian actress and classical dancer best known for ‘Ponnambili’ TV series

Malavika Wales is an Indian actress and classical dancer from Thrissur, Kerala. She made her acting debut in Malarvaadi Arts Club in 2010, alongside Nivin Pauley, Aju Varghese, Sreeram Ramachandran and many other newcomers. Though she has been a part of a few more Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada movies later, she gained popularity through television. Her lead role as Ponnu of TV soap Ponnambili aired in Mazhavil Manorama shot her to instant fame.

Malavika Wales was born in Thrissur in 1992. She has been learning classical dance forms since the age of 6 and gave her arangettam at Guruvayur Krishna temple. After schooling she joined Anupam Kher’s acting school at Mumbai, where she did a diploma course for three months. Her first stint with acting was for a documentary film, Aisha at the age of 11. She participated in Miss. Kerala contest in 2009 and made it to the third round. She was the youngest contestant with age only 16 and won ‘Miss Beautiful Eyes’ subtitle. The show became the stepping stone to her film journey.

When Vineeth Sreenavasan was in search of a new heroine for his debut flick as a director, Malarvaadi Arts Club, he saw some of her photos and casted her among a bunch of newcomers. She also acted in a supporting role in Makaramanju, before the release of her debut flick. Enna Satham Indha Neram was her first Tamil film, and Nandeesha, her first Kannada movie. Ponnambili marked her debut in TV shows, and later she played female lead in Nandini, Ammuvinte Amma and Manjil Virinja Poovu.

Malavika Wales – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She is a trained dancer who performs Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and Mohinyattam. Kalamandalam Kshemavati and Kalamandalam Prasanna Unni are among her dance gurus.

2. She reprised Kavya Madhavan’s lead role in Nandeesha the Kannada remake of Malayalam movie, Thilakkam.

3. Azhagumagan was her original debut Tamil debut film which she signed in 2012. The movie had a delayed release in 2018.

4. In 2011 she hosted the reality show on Amrita TV, Super Star The Ultimate.

5. Her father P. G. Wales is a chartered accountant from Thrissur. 

6. Dance is her first love, and she also loves accepting acting roles.