The second season of Raj and DK's The Family Man is all set to stream on Amazon Prime Video from 4 June. The series will introduce a new actor for the Hindi audience - Samantha Akkineni. She plays the role of Rajji, the supposed antagonist in this season. While the North Indian audience might consider Samantha a new face, she is already hugely popular down South having made a mark with her acting in many films in Telugu and Tamil and has bagged four Filmfare Awards for her roles.
How Samantha Akkineni Took Up Acting
According to a report, Samantha took up acting by accident and because she needed the money due to a financial crunch. While pursuing a degree in commerce, she took on part-time modelling assignments. Samantha Akkineni was discovered by Ravi Varman who introduced her to films. She soon received offers for film roles, and made her acting debut in Gautham Menon's critically acclaimed Telugu romance film Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) which fetched her the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Actress and a Nandi Award.
Samantha Akkineni admires Audrey Hepburn, who is her inspiration in acting. She says her acting is influenced by Audrey’s performance to an extent.
She Had No Intention of Becoming an Actor
Born in Chennai, Samantha had no focused intention of becoming an actor while growing up. But, ever since her debut in films, she has garnered a huge fan following and delivered with every role she has taken on.
Samantha is the only actress after Revathi to bag the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in both Tamil and Telugu in the same year i.e. 2013. She was honoured for her films Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Eega.
Samantha Has Another Name Too
Samantha enjoys a whopping 16 million fans on her Instagram and is lovingly called 'Sam' by her fans. But few people know that her family and close friends call her Yashoda.
Samantha Runs an NGO for Children and Women
Samantha Akkineni established an organisation named Pratyusha Support to provide healthcare support in specific regions. Her NGO offers treatment and medical help to women and children in need.
Samantha has often been seen participating in charities and even helping women who need financial assistance. She recently gifted a woman auto-driver named Kavitha her watch worth Rs 12.5 lakh to help her start her own cab service.
Samantha And Chaitanya's Love Story
Samantha is married to South actor Chaitanya Akkineni. The two met on the sets of Yeh Maaya Chesave and became an audience favourite. Chaitanya was dating Shruti Haasan at that time, while Samantha was in a relationship with Siddharth. In 2014, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya came together for another film Autonagar Surya.
Fans believe this was when their relationship blossomed. Later in 2015, Chaitanya's father, Nagarjuna, confessed that his son had found someone. In May 2016, they were spotted stepping out from a multiplex after watching Samantha's film, AAA. In September 2016, Samantha finally confessed that she's dating Naga Chaitanya, but added that they weren't planning to get married anytime soon.
In an interview, Chaitanya said that the first person he told about his relationship was his father, Nargarjuna. He said, "The minute he heard the news, he looked at me and said, 'You're telling me this now, but I've known all along'. Our families have been supportive and everyone is happy."
In October 2017, Chaitanya and Samantha tied the knot in Goa. They first got married according to Hindu rituals on 6 October and on 7 October a Christian ceremony took place. Both the ceremonies were private, where only close friends and family were present.
Some of Samantha's popular movies are Eega, Theri, Mersal, Rangasthalam and Super Deluxe.
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