Known For: Indian Malayalam actress
Category: Actresses
Occupation: actor, television actor
Country: India
City: Kaviyoor
Date of Birth: Sunday, 10 September 1939
Language Malayalam
Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing credits in few films. Ponnamma is a four-time Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress winner. Her sister Kaviyoor Renuka was also an actress. Often called as the Mother to all actors, she has acted as mother of almost all actors in her career panning over decades. At the age of 20, she played the mother of Sathyan and Madhu in the 1965 movie Thommente Makkal. She gained critical acclaim for acting as the mother of the actor Mohanlal.
| BirthPlace | Kaviyoor |
| Wikipedia | Kaviyoor_Ponnamma |
Ponnamma was born to T. P. Damodharan and Gauri, as the eldest of seven children, on 10 September 1945 in Kaviyoor, Thiruvalla. She had six siblings among whom Kaviyoor Renuka (d. 2004), her younger sister, was also an actress. Even though she was born in Kaviyoor, her childhood was spent in Ponkunnam where her father was doing business. She began taking singing lessons from age five. Ever since she saw a live concert of M. S. Subbulakshmi, she wanted to be a singer and even "look like her". Her arengettam (singing debut) was held in Kaviyoor when she was 11 years old, where she was first introduced by her stage name "Kaviyoor Ponnamma".As a five-year-old, she learned music and sang in stage shows. In 1958, she was spotted by Kerala People's Arts Club (KPAC) who was looking for a girl who can sing in their stage play. They also gave her the role of heroine in Mooladhanam, her debut stage drama at age 13. It was directed by Thoppil Bhasi. After five years came her first movie Kudumbini, in which she did the title role of the mother of two children.
