Asin Thottumkal is an Indian actress and trained Bharathanatyam dancer

Asin Thottumkal, known mononymously as Asin, is an Indian actress and trained Bharathanatyam dancer. She began her acting career in the South Indian film industry, but now appears predominantly in Bollywood films.

She was born in Cochin, Kerala, India in the Malayalam-speaking Thottumkal family which consists of her businessman dad, Joseph, and mom, Dr. Seline, who practices in Ernakulam. She attended Naval Public School in Cochin, and after obtaining her Matriculation, was enrolled in St. Theresa's Higher Secondary School. After successfully obtaining her Higher Secondary School Certificate, she enrolled in St. Theresa's College to continue studying in the Arts Faculty. After obtaining a Degree in B.A. English Literature, she assisted her dad in his business like software, export of furniture and antiques also took up modeling on the side. Her modeling assignments included Colgate Toothpaste, and Fairever Cream.

This exposure got her noticed and she made her debut on the tinsel screen through director Sathyan Anthikad's "Narendaran Makan" with Malayalyee actor Kunjachacko Boban.

After her initial success, she was offered Telugu movies, and warmly welcomed in the Telugu film industry. It was a smooth transition from Telugu to Tamil with the film "M Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmi". Asin starred in the original Telugu version, so she was the obvious choice for the Tamil remake, opposite Jeyam Ravi. The movie was a super hit. What makes Asin hot in the Tamil film industry, apart from her looks, is that she has teamed up with all the top heroes -- Vijay, Ajith, Surya and now Vikram, in "Maja".

Asin speaks a wide range of languages such as Malyalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, English, French, and may well be the only Indian actress with a Blogspot in French. She is very active in various functions throughout Southern India, and credits her good upbringing to her parents, who she considers her role models. She was the winner of an entrepreneurial award as a teenager. She is fond of reading and has a huge collection of books.

She, along with her mom and dad, have left their Harrington Road apartment at Chetpet, Chennai, and have re-located to an apartment in Lokhandwala Complex, in Andheri (West), Mumbai, in order to enable her to debut in Bollywood movies.

She has had a taste of success at a very young age in Indian regional movies, it remains to be seen if her success will continue in Bollywood also. Her first break in 2008 was when she did Ghajini with Aamir Khan. She was the original heroine for the Tamil version of Ghajini as well which was a blockbuster. Ghajini in Hindi version did a fantastic business at the box office. Asin's style statement is white shirt-demin jean combo any day. Asin prefers effortless, simple and casual clothes and keeps it simple most of the time other than while being in front of the camera.