Jayasudha Kapoor was born as Sujatha Nidudavolu on 17 December 1958. She is an Indian actress and politician known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Jayasudha made her film debut when she was twelve years old with the Telugu film Pandanti Kapuram in 1972, actress Vijaya Nirmala who acted in the movie is her aunt.
Director K. Balachander gave her a small role in the Tamil film Arangetram where she shared space with Kamal Haasan. She acted in a number of films in Telugu and Tamil mostly under Balachander's direction—Sollathaan Ninaikkiren in 1973, Naan Avanillai in 1974 and Apoorva Raagangal and in Idi Katha Kaadu with Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi. She also changed her name to Jayasudha, since there was already another actress named Sujatha. Her fame quickly spread, where Telugu film producers were offering her good film roles.
She made her debut as heroine in the Telugu film Lakshmana Rekha in 1975 that made her a big star in Telugu films. She was now called a successor to the great Telugu actress Savitri and performed many strong roles and was recognized for her natural acting. She is called "Sahaja Nati" in Telugu which means “natural/realistic actress.”
Her roles varied from the cute looking teeny bopper to that of a tortured wife of a sadist husband to that of a comedian who discovers that her husband wants to murder her for her wealth in Money. She performed showy roles in Telugu remakes of Hindi films, such as Yugandhar, remake of Don, Illalu remake of Apnapan.
In commercial cinema, she received a huge break when she starred in Senior NTR's Adavi Ramudu in 1977, which broke box office records.She also showed innovativeness and lack of vanity in original Telugu films like Premabhishekam and Meghasandesam with Akkineni Nageswara Rao. She has acted in 300 plus feature films in a variety of roles, and in one year, she had 24 film releases.
She has also worked in few Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. She received five Filmfare Awards South, for her performances as best actress in Jyothi, Aame Katha, GruhaPravesam.
In her second innings she delivered impactful mother role performances for which she received awards for the films like Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi and Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008). In 2008, she received the ANR National Award, and in 2010, she won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award - South for her contributions to Indian cinema. Jayasudha served as Member, Legislative Assembly, from Secunderabad constituency during 2009-2014 in the erstwhile combined Government of Andhra Pradesh. She later joined the Telugu Desam Party in 2016. Later in 2019 she quit the Telugu Desam Party and joined YSR Congress Party.
Her mother, actress Joga Bai is known for films such as Balanandam, and Kalahasti Mahatyam (1954). Jayasudha's paternal grandfather, Nidudavolu Venkatarao, is an eminent scholar and literary historian. Her first marriage was to film producer Vadde Ramesh. However, the marriage ended in divorce. She then married Nitin Kapoor, cousin to actor Jeetendra, in 1985 and they have two children.
