Andrea Jeremiah

Biography

Andrea Maria Jeremiah (born 21 December 1985) is an Indian actress and singer who works predominantly in Tamil films. She is a recipient of several awards including nominations for Filmfare Awards South.
Andrea made her playback singing debut with "Kannum Kannum Nokia" in the Tamil film Anniyan, with music composed by Harris Jayaraj. She made her acting debut in the Tamil film Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007). She has since appeared in several commercially successful films such as Annayum Rasoolum (2013), Vishwaroopam (2013), Tadakha (2013), Endrendrum Punnagai (2013), Aranmanai (2014), Loham (2015), Thoppil Jopaan (2016), Taramani (2017), Aval (2017), Vada Chennai (2018), Aranmanai 3 (2021) and Anel Meley Pani Thuli (2022).

Early life and education

Andrea Jeremiah was born in an Anglo Indian family, in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu.
Her father is a lawyer at the Madras High Court. She has one younger sister and was raised near Chennai. She went to St. Joseph's Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Perambur, Chennai, and graduated from Women's Christian College.
Andrea learned classical piano when she was eight. At age 10, she was a part of a Jackson Five-style troupe called Young Stars which formed the base of her early singing and music composing career. She was also a theatre artist in her college and appeared in several stage plays organised by The Madras Players and EVAM. She was the President of the Student Senate at Women's Christian College. She also organised a company, The Show Must Go On (TSMGO Productions), to promote live art and artistes. Andrea said that as a college student, she turned down every film offer she got as she had no intention of becoming a film actor.

Acting career

Andrea began her theatre career with Girish Karnad's Nagamandala. She acted in new leo coffee advertisement with actor Shiva in 2006. She also acted in a serial which relayed in Podhigai channel. She has performed all over India. After she rendered a song in Gautham Vasudev Menon's Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, he asked her to play as one of the lead female character in his next venture, Pachaikili Muthucharam. This film was a film adaptation of James Siegel's novel Derailed, with Andrea portraying Kalyani, a homemaker, whose husband engages in an affair and is blackmailed. Andrea was selected for the role after actresses Simran, Shobana and Tabu were approached.

She signed for Selvaraghavan's fantasy-adventure film Aayirathil Oruvan, which released in early 2010. In 2011, she agreed to play a minor supporting role in Venkat Prabhu's multi-starrer Mankatha, which was released in August 2011 and became one of the biggest commercial success.
In 2013, Andrea made her debut in Malayalam cinema with Rajeev Ravi's romance film Annayum Rasoolum, in which she played a Christian salesgirl opposite Fahadh Faasil. Anil R. Nair stated, "Andrea gels flawlessly to her mysterious character." The film was a commercial success and she termed it as the best film in her career.
In Puthiya Thiruppangal, she played a journalist. In Endrendrum Punnagai, she played a model and she also acted in the Malayalam film London Bridge. Her next film as female lead was the 2014 Aranmanai, directed by Sundar C. It was a box office success as well as a breakthrough film in her career. In 2015, Andrea was cast alongside Mohanlal in Loham, directed by Ranjith. This was her first film with Mohanlal and was a success at the box office.
In 2017, Andrea played a single mother in Ram's Taramani opposite Vasanth Ravi. Anupama Subramanian noted, "Andrea has given a performance to match the gravitas of her character. Taramani had plenty to offer and Andrea has not let the writers down. She simply excels." The film was a box office success and earned her acclaim. She played a role in Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam and reprised the role in its sequel, which released in 2018. She has signed a woman-centric thriller called Kaa – The Forest.
In 2021, her first release was Master. The film received mixed-to-positive and became successful at the box-office. Then she appeared as lead in Aranmanai 3, directed by Sundar C Though the film received mostly negative reviews, it became a commercial hit. Andrea Jeremiah plays a police officer and a princess in the thriller Maaligai. In 2022, the crime drama Anel Meley Pani Thuli is one of Andrea’s finest performances. In 2025, Mask is produced by Andrea Jeremiah who stars in the film along with Kavin.

Music career

Andrea has stated that her focus was always on music, that she chose to be a professional singer and that acting happened by chance. In 2005, she ventured into playback singing in feature films. She has sung several popular songs for composers Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Anirudh Ravichander, Thaman, Devi Sri Prasad and G. V. Prakash Kumar and has also received nominations at Filmfare and Vijay Awards for a few of them. She considers the song "Maalai Neram" as the most challenging she has sung.
Apart from singing under other composers' direction, Andrea also produces her own music. She composed, wrote and sang a single, "Soul of Taramani", as a promo for her Tamil romantic-drama Taramani. She has composed several music themes, songs and albums.

Media image

Andrea's character Althiya from Taramani, is considered among the most memorable female characters of Tamil cinema. In the Chennai Times Most Desirable Woman list, Andrea was placed 7th in 2017 and 16th in 2018, 25th in 2019, 27th in 2020.