Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin is an Indian film actress from the state of Kerala.
Making her acting debut in Sathyan Anthikkad's Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (2001), Asin had her first commercial success with Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu Actress for the film.
After a number of films, she received her second South Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in her second Tamil film, Ghajini (2005). She played the lead female roles in hits, the thriller Ghajini (2005) and the action comedy Varalaru (2006).
More recently, Asin made her début in Bollywood, with Ghajini, the remake of its Tamil namesake, subsequently winning the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award.
Asin was born into a Syrian Catholic family in Kochi, Kerala. Her father, Joseph Thottumkal originally from Thodupuzha, managed several businesses before he decided to manage his daughter's acting career instead where he accompanies her to all her foreign shoots. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal, remains a surgeon who moved settlements from Cochin to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter. Asin has quoted that her name "means pure and without blemish". She claims that "the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit meaning "without", and 'Sin' from English".
