Meera Jasmine

Meera Jasmine was born on 15 February 1982 in a Syrian Christian family in Kuttapuzha village, Thiruvalla, Kerala to Joseph and Aleyamma. She was the fourth of five children.

She completed her schooling in Bala Vihar, Thiruvalla and Marthoma Residential School, Thiruvalla. She appeared for her Higher Secondary Exams in March 2000. She had enrolled for a BSc degree in Zoology at Assumption College, Changanassery and completed nearly three months when she was spotted by Director Blessy (who was then an assistant Director to Director Lohithadas) and offered a role in Soothradharan.

Meera Jasmine's Tamil debut was Run, directed by Lingusamy, which became a high success in Tamil Nadu and made her a sought-after Actress. The successes of Run and her next Bala (2002) gave her the chance to work with the established actors of the Tamil film industry.

Meera Jasmine became noted in the Telugu film industry with Run, the dubbed version of the same-titled Tamil film. She was in the Telugu films in 2004 with Ammayi Bagundi and Gudumba Shankar but also entered Kannada cinema by co-starring with Puneet Rajkumar in Maurya. Her Kannada film Arasu again with Puneet Rajkumar and Ramya is a hit. Her other Kannada films include Devaru Kotta Thangi and Ijjodu. Ijjodu, in which she played Chenni, a Basavi woman, who ends up becoming a sex worker, was screened at four prestigious domestic film festivals and garnered critical acclaim.

In the film Achuvinte Amma (2005), she enacted the young, adorable character Achu.

She then paired with Mohanlal in Rasathanthram (2006). She played as a girl pretending to be a boy in the first half of the film. The film went on to become a commercial success. Her next film with Dileep – Vinodayathra, which again was directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. She was next featured opposite Mammootty in the critically acclaimed film Ore Kadal. The film was showcased in film festivals and won awards. Her performance as an innocent middle class woman won praise from audiences. Media quoted her as, "Matching step with the megastar in this histrionic race is Meera Jasmine, who amazes you with a stunning delineation of her difficult role" . Her next film was Calcutta News with Dileep. Blessy, who introduced her to film field, was the Director of Calcutta News. In Innathe Chintha Vishayam (2008), she collaborated with Sathyan Anthikkad for his fourth consecutive film, again opposite Mohanlal, but failed to succeed. Her next films Minnaminnikoottam with Kamal and Rathri Mazha with Lenin Rajendran, which released after a long post-production delay, were box office failures.

In 2008 she faced an unofficial ban in the Malayalam film industry issued by the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), after she refused to shoot for Twenty:20, a film distributed by actor Dileep for AMMA. Meera however said that she was not aware of a ban and that she was continuing shooting for Malayalam films.

Though her successive film did not fare as well, she was noticed by Director Mani Ratnam who gave her a role in Aayutha Ezhuthu. Meera, who did not know Tamil, worked on her diction, and spoke dubbing for her herself in the film. She later appeared in SS Stanley in Mercury Pookkal. Her latest Tamil film, Mambattiyan got released in December 2011.

In 2008 she said in an interview that she will be marrying Mandolin Rajesh, "but not for the next two or three years". Meera is married to Anil John Titus on 9 February 2014 who works as an Engineer in Dubai.