Movies

Pooja Hegde (pronounced ; born 13 October 1990) is an Indian actress who appears in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil films. She began her career as a model and was crowned as the second runner-up at the 2010 I Am She–Miss Universe India pageant. She made her acting debut with the Tamil film Mugamoodi (2012) and had her first Telugu release in Oka Laila Kosam (2014). Hegde established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema.

Hegde won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020) and was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Oka Laila Kosam and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). Her other commercially successful films include Duvvada Jagannadham (2017), Maharshi (2019), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019), Housefull 4 (2019), and Most Eligible Bachelor (2021). Her four film releases of 2022, Beast, Radhe Shyam, Cirkus and Acharya, were poorly received namely which impeded her career.

Early life
Pooja Hegde was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in a Tulu-speaking family. Her parents are Manjunath Hegde and Latha Hegde. They are originally from Udupi, Karnataka. She also has an elder brother Rishabh Hegde, who is an orthopaedic surgeon. Besides Tulu, she is fluent in Kannada, English, Hindi and Marathi. She later learnt Telugu and Tamil following a career in her respective cinema. She did her schooling in Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School, Mumbai. She went to M. M. K. College, where she regularly participated in dance and fashion shows.

Hegde competed in the Miss India 2009 competition, but was eliminated in an early round despite winning the Miss India Talented 2009 honour. She re-applied the following year and was the second runner-up in the Miss Universe India 2010 competition, while also being crowned Miss India South Glamorous Hair 2010 in the subsidiary competition.