Maya S. Krishnan
Finalist
Maya S. Krishnan
Bio
Maya Sundarakrishnan (மாயா சுந்தரகிருஷ்ணன்), known professionally as Maya S. Krishnan, is an Indian actress, singer, and theatre artist born on 15 April 1991 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Her father Sundarakrishnan is a businessman, and she is one of four sisters — her sister Swagatha S. Krishnan is a well-known playback singer and dubbing artist. She attended TVS Lakshmi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Madurai, and earned an engineering degree from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru. A childhood gymnast, she placed sixth at the Nationals before shifting her focus to theatre, training at The Little Theatre (Chennai), Half Boiled Inc (South India's first improv comedy club), and the South Indian Artistes' Association. She made her acting debut in James Vasanthan's Vaanavil Vaazhkai (2015), famously cutting her hair short for the role of a singer. She then appeared in Thodari (2016), the Rajinikanth-starrer 2.0 (2018), Magalir Mattum (2017), the critically acclaimed web series Auto Shankar (2019, winning Zee Cine Awards Tamil and Behindwoods Gold Medal for Best Actress), and Time Enna Boss (Amazon Prime, 2020). Her role in Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram (2022) brought her mainstream recognition, followed by Leo (2023) and Weapon (2023, with Sathyaraj). She has also performed internationally with Theatre du Soleil (Paris), Les Hommes Approximatifs (Strasbourg), and Amares Theatre (Uruguay), and founded Ilulu, a Chennai-based theatre collective. Her YouTube channel is popular for the viral 'Manjula Teacher' sketch comedy series. In 2023, she entered Bigg Boss Tamil Season 7 as a contestant and became the second runner-up on 14 January 2024.
Supporting role in Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram (2022); character roles in 2.0 (2018) and Leo (2023); web series Auto Shankar (2019, Zee Cine Award for Best Actress in Negative Role); founding Ilulu theatre collective; viral YouTube character 'Manjula Teacher'; finishing as second runner-up on Bigg Boss Tamil Season 7 (2024).





