Jayasudha Kapoor is an Indian film actress who has predominantly worked in noteworthy films in Telugu cinema. Born as Sujatha Nidudavolu on 17 December 1958 in Tamil Nadu, Jayasudha is a multi-award winning actress who has featured in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. She is a recipient of several Nandi Awards and Filmfare Awards South for excellent performances in her movies. She has acted in more than 200 movies in Telugu alone. Her most notable movies include Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973), Naan Avanillai (1974), Lakshmana Rekha (1975), and Adavi Ramudu (1977). She garnered the Andhra Pradesh Cinegoer`s Association Lifetime Achievement Award in the year 2008. Apart from being a successful actress, Jayasudha is also a former MLA. She was associated with the Congress in Secunderabad.

Early Life
Jayasudha was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu to a Telugu-speaking family and her aunt Vijaya Nirmala, is a Telugu cinema actress and director. She changed her name to Jayasudha, as an actress named Sujatha was already present. She has one sister Subhashini, who is also an actress in South Indian films. Jayasudha is the granddaughter of a literary scholar and historian Gidugu Krishna Murthy and Nidudavolu Venkatarao.

Personal Life
Jayasudha first got married to Vadde Ramesh, but their relationship did not last long, and she soon divorced him due to some unforeseen reason. The actress later married producer Nitin Kapoor, cousin to actor Jeetendra, in the year 1985. She has two sons from her second marriage, Nihar and Shreayan. Her first husband Vadde Ramesh suffered with cancer and died at KIMS hospital in Hyderabad on 21 November 2013. Nitin too passed away on March 14, 2017, after falling from a building.

Career
As an Actor
Jayasudha made her film debut when she was twelve years old as the daughter of veteran Telugu actress Jamuna in the Telugu family drama Pandanti Kapuram (1972). The film was a smash hit and was also remade in Hindi as Sunehra Sansar (1975) starring, Rajendra Kumar, Hema Malini, and Mala Sinha. In the following year, she starred in Arangetram, a Tamil family drama film, directed by K. Balachander. The movie featured Prameela, Sivakumar, S. V. Subbaiah, Kamal Haasan and M. N. Rajam in prominent roles. Arangetram was a glorious start to a string of successful movies by the director- actress collaboration. The film was a commercial hit but was controversial at the time of release, as it revolved around the story of a prostitute, being the protagonist. The movie was remade in Hindi as well titled Aaina. It had Mumtaz play the lead role opposite Rajesh Khanna and Kamal Hassan as the male leads.

Impressed by her performance, director Balachander went on to cast Jayasudha in several of his films. Some noteworthy movies of the director-actress duo include Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973), a drama also starring Kamal Haasan as a boy toy. The trailblazer movie at the time showed the hero doesn`t always have to get the girl. In the movie, Jayasudha played a young girl married to an older man. She was appreciated for her performance, which further widened her popularity among audiences. The actress` next notable movie was in 1974 under the direction of Balachander titled Naan Avanillai, a remake of the 1962 Marathi language play To Mee Navhech. The movie starred Gemini Ganesan in the lead and fetched him The Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor. In 1974, Jayasudha also starred in the Tamil drama film Apoorva Raagangal, which even though at the time of release was controversial but later went on to become a huge critical and commercial success. In this movie too, she worked under the direction of K. Balachander and was once again cast opposite Kamal Haasan. One of her other successful collaborations with director Balachander includes the Telugu drama movie Idi Katha Kaadu (1979), in which she starred alongside Kamal Haasan, Sarath Babu and superstar Chiranjeevi.

Another role that garnered her appreciation was in Jyothi (1976), a remake of the Hindi movie Mili starring Jaya Bachchan. Jayasudha received two prestigious awards for her performance in the movie - Filmfare Best Actress Award (Telugu) and Nandi Award for Best Actress. After working on an array of supporting roles, the actress` breakthrough came with a Telugu movie Lakshmana Rekha in 1975. It got her all the praise and attention she truly deserved.

Jayasudha was known to star in varied roles. From being a carefree woman in Nomu (1974) to portraying a tortured wife of a sadist husband in K. Balachander`s film Idi Katha Kaadu in 1979, she proved her acting mettle very early in her career. For Idi Katha Kaadu she even received The Nandi Award for Best Actress. She received cult status after starring in Adavi Ramudu, a 1977 Telugu film that broke all box office records, and also received several accolades. She ventured into Hindi cinema in 1977 with Aaina, but notable Hindi movie was Shabhash Daddy (1979), directed by Kishore Kumar. She then went on to star in Yugandhar (1979) and IIIalu (1981), both movies that had her portray anti-heroine characters. Her role in the 1981 movie Premabhishekam starring Sridevi in the lead, came as a surprise to audiences, as Jayasudha played a supporting character of a deglamorized prostitute in the film. Her excellent portrayal of her character won her the Nandi Award for Best Actress. In 1993, Jayasudha acted in a Telugu movie Money, based on the American film Ruthless People, among others. Her other popular project in the year was the Tamil movie Rajadurai, opposite Vijayakanth in the male lead. She also worked in the Hindi movie Sooryavansham in 1999, based on a son who is treated as a servant by his father as he unable to live up to his expectations. The movie starred Amitabh Bachchan in the lead.

Jayasudha also acted in other Tamil films, the notable ones being Alaipayuthey (2000) and Thavasi (2001). Alaipayuthey was appreciated for its realistic portrayal of romance and married life, and Thavasi was a family drama. Both were critically appreciated and enjoyed commercial success, whereas Jayasudha was applauded for her acting. She then acted in the 2007 movie Thayiya Madilu, a sentimental drama film directed and written by S. Narayan, which was critically appreciated. Later, she went on to star in the 2015 movie Vajrakaya, a Kannada drama film directed by Harsha. In the following year too, she was seen in successful movies like Thozha, Oopiri, and Brahmotsavam. In 2017, she starred in Sathamanam Bhavati, a Telugu drama film where she plays the role of Janakamma.

As producer
Along with an illustrious career as an actor, the actress soon turned in 1987 with Kanchana Sita. She went on to produce several movies like Kalikalam (1990), Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai (1990), Adrustam (1992) Vinta Kodallu (1993), and Hands Up (1999). Her 2019 release includes Oorantha Anukuntunnaru.