Anu Emmanuel (pronounced [anu ɪˈmænjəwəl] ; born 28 March 1997) is an American actress of Indian descent who primarily works in Telugu films along with Tamil and Malayalam films. Emmanuel is a recipient of a Producers Guild Film Award.After working as a child artist in Swapna Sanchari (2011), Emmanuel made her film debut with Malayalam film Action Hero Biju (2016). Emmanuel made her Telugu film debut with Majnu (2016), for which she received SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut – Telugu nomination. She made her Tamil film debut with Thupparivaalan (2017), and starred in the commercially successful Namma Veetu Pillai (2019).

Early life

Anu Emmanuel was born in the United States on 28 March 1997; and raised in Garland, Texas near Dallas. She is the daughter of Thankachan Emmanuel, a noted Malayalam film producer from Kottayam. She graduated from Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland in 2015. She pursued a degree in psychology but left after an year, moving to India to pursue an acting career.

Career

She made her Telugu debut with ''Majnu'' opposite to Nani. The film went on become a hit at box-office. During that time she was announced as the female lead in ''Oxygen'', alongside actor Gopichand in the lead. In 2017, She made her Tamil debut with ''Thupparivaalan'' alongside Vishal. In 2018, she was paired opposite to Pawan Kalyan and Allu Arjun in ''Agnyaathavaasi'' and ''Naa Peru Surya'' respectively. She played the lead role in ''Shailaja Reddy Alludu'' along with Naga Chaitanya and Ramya Krishna. She made a cameo appearance in ''Geetha Govindam''. She appeared in her second Tamil film ''Namma Veetu Pillai'' opposite to Sivakarthikeyan which became successful at the box-office.In 2021, she starred in ''Alludu Adhurs'' along with Bellamkonda Sreenivas and ''Maha Samudram'' with Sharwanand. In 2022, Anu played the lead role in Urvasivo Rakshasivo opposite Allu Sirish. She appeared in ''Ravanasura'' opposite Ravi Teja. She returned to Tamil cinema in 2023 playing the female lead in Japan opposite Karthi.