Gayathri Raghuram is an Indian actress, choreographer, and politician born on 25 June 1980 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She comes from a distinguished performance arts family - her parents Raghuram and Girija Raghuram are renowned dance choreographers, her maternal relatives include the legendary Bharatanatyam gurus Brinda and Kala, and she is the great-granddaughter of director Krishnaswami Subrahmanyam. Her elder sister Suja is also a dancer-actress. She began acting at 14 and debuted in the Telugu film Repallelo Radha before gaining wider recognition in Charlie Chaplin (2002), Whistle (2003), Style (2002), and Parasuram (2003). She then moved to Iowa, USA, to pursue a qualification in Visual Communications, returning to Tamil cinema in 2008 as a choreographer. Her choreography credits include Jayam Kondaan (2008), Madrasapattinam (2010), Osthe (2011), Deiva Thirumagal (2013), and Anjaan (2014). She was appointed president of the BJP Tamil Nadu Arts and Culture Wing in July 2020, though she later fell into controversy within the party. In June 2017, she entered Bigg Boss Tamil Season 1 as one of the original contestants. She was a polarising figure in the house, known for her conflicts with Oviya. She was evicted in Week 8, finishing 10th overall.
Debut film Charlie Chaplin (2002, dir. Sakthi Chidambaram) opposite Prabhu Deva; Tamil choreography for big-budget films including Madrasapattinam (2010), Deiva Thirumagal (2013), Anjaan (2014); BJP Tamil Nadu Arts and Culture Wing president (2020-2022).
