Asin

Asin was born in Cochin (now Kochi) in Kerala on 26 October 1985, to a Christian family.[9][10] Her father, Joseph Thottumkal originally from Thodupuzha, managed several businesses. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal, who moved settlements from Kochi to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter, is a surgeon. Asin's father was keen to name her as Mary, after her grandmother. He however named her Asin as the name had a beautiful meaning.

Asin has quoted that her name means "pure and without blemish". She states that the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit meaning "without", and 'sin' from English. She attended Naval Public School from L.K.G. (Pre.K) through 10th standard. She scored over 90% in her 10th board exams but chose Humanities in 11th standard, shocking her family who were confident she would take up science and get into the civil services.

Two education. After that she attended St. Teresa's College in Kochi, a college affiliated with MG University, where she graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature. The actress can speak seven languages; being well-versed in Malayalam (her mother tongue), two other South Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu) as well as Hindi, French, English and Sanskrit. Asin also learnt basic Marathi for her movie Khiladi 786 in which she played a typical Marathi girl.

Asin appeared in her first dual role in K. S. Ravikumar's Dasavathaaram opposite Kamal Haasan, who portrayed ten roles. The film, which was under production since September 2006, became Asin's largest film till date. Despite being overshadowed by Haasan's ten roles, Asin's portrayals in the film were praised as her "best-to-date" with one of her roles being that of a Vaishnavite in 12th century Tamil Nadu; whilst the other character was a Brahmin girl from Chidambaram for which she won her first ITFA Best Actress Award. Dasavathaaram subsequently went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in South Indian film history.