Divya. M. Nair – Malayalam television actress of ‘Streepadam’ fame

Divya. M. Nair, popularly known as Divya is a popular television actress who shot to fame playing doubtful wife Jayasudha Manoj in the TV soap, Streepadam aired on Mazhavil Manorama. She has been paired with popular actor Sabarinath for the show. Though her character has negative shades, with traits of a jealous village woman, she became a household name after she became a part of this show. She has also appeared in ads, and a few movies in brief roles. She is also a dubbing artist, and a former Radio Jockey and TV anchor too.

Divya hails from Palluruthy, Kochi. She schooled from St. Mary’s Girls High School, Fort Kochi. She owns some good memories of her school life. Her father is a banker, and she belonged to a family with no artistic background. In the childhood none of her family members imagined that she would reach entertainment world. Divya also made up her mind to follow her father’s path and become a banker as dreamt by her parents.

She started off as an anchor of local TV channels

She was studying in class 10 when she got offer to anchor a show for a local TV channel. The first offer was given by the brother of one of her friends. Later she anchored shows for Asianet and Soorya, leading Malayalam channels, and earned early recognition. Within a short time span, she got opportunity to anchor shows for almost all Malayalam channels.

She got married at a young age to a person from the same field. For the same reason she got a lot of freedom to pursue her dreams. She started her career as a Radio Jockey after marriage, and was one of the early RJs from Malayalam scene. She worked as RJ for long 6 years. She got bored with the daily routine of 9 am – 5.30 pm work for long years, and resigned the job because of some internal politics. She started her career as a dubbing artist after that.

Initially she dubbed for ads, followed by movies

Initially she received offers for dubbing from friends. Started off with ads, she later dubbed for full-length roles in Malayalam movies. Till then she had no idea about acting, and never planned so also. As an actor she started off with ad films and slowly gained confidence in new field. She later played bit roles on big screen, before her television entry as an actress.

As a television actress, she got her first break through K. K. Rajeev’s ‘Eeswaran Saakshiyaayi’ where she played the powerful role of an advocate. After that she played a negative character in Eeran Nilav, which she enjoyed doing. Streepadam gave her a major break in the industry, where she played female protagonist’s elder sister’s role and now she is known through this role. Though she did more number of movies than TV shows, she gained recognition as an actress through TV soaps. She has been in the field of entertainment for more than 2 decades.

TV artist Divya – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She played the brief role of Mammootty’s mother’s role in Malayalam film, Pullikaran Stara. She played mother to Mammootty’s younger version.

2. She is a great devotee of Lord Krishna.

3. During the release of Nandanam movie, she bunked college to watch the movie. But she got caught by parents as they visit the college to take her to the same film, and she was not there. Later she received punishment from her mother, after they reached home watching the movie. Divya had already reached home, and also had a nap in the sofa set of sit-out, as she didn’t have keys.

4. She is a dubbing artist too, and has also done compering. She has also done many celebrity interviews for different channels.

5. During school days she participated in Thiruvathira, and her grandmother is a guru. She used to participate in cultural activities, but is not a trained dancer.

6. She was interested in participating school events and regularly participated also. But she rarely won prizes.

7. She is a trained classical singer, who studied for long 7 years. Yet she believes herself to be a bathroom singer.

8. While working as an RJ, her job was similar to a white collar job, where she had to reach office by 9 am and spent there till 5.30 pm.

9. She has done bit roles in more than 30 films till now.

10. She dubbed for actress Geetha in North 24 Kaatham, and many other artists, and has also dubbed for Shobana in many ads.

11. She mostly dubs for bold characters in movies, because her voice suits them most.