Tamil celebrities who worked as child artists

Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan, one of the most talented actors of India, who often experiments with his roles, started acting at a very early age. He worked as a child artist in several Tamil movies. Not many are aware that Kamal Haasan even won the prestigious President's Gold Medal for his performance in Kalathur Jannamma at the age of four. He had a spark of being a star since childhood.

- Aarti Iyengar

Nithya Menen
Born in Bangalore to Malayali parents, Nithya Menen appeared on screen for the first time when she was ten years old. She was a part of an Indian English language film, The Monkey Who Knew Too Much in 1998 where she played Tabu’s younger sister. She was later spotted in a Hindi soap Choti Maa – Ek Anokha Bandhan which was an adaptation of a popular Tamil serial, Chitti.

Sridevi Kapoor
Not many know that Sridevi was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan upon birth. She started her career at the age of four in Thirumugham’s devotional film, Thunaivan. Since then she was a part of several South movies as a child artist. Sridevi also acted as a child artist in the Hindi film, Julie. She finally made her debut as a lead actor with the film Moondru Mudichu in 1976.

Shalini Kumar
Shalini debuted as a child artist in the Malayalam film, Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku at the age of 4. She was later seen in a Telugu film Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari where she acted along with her sister Shamili, as an orphan child taken care by Megastar Chiranjeevi. She continued to appear in films as a child artist credited as Baby Shalini. Years later, she returned to the silver screen as the female lead in Kadhalukku Mariyadhai.

Ajith Kumar
Like his wife, Shalini, Thala Ajith Kumar also started as a child artist. We was first seen in Suresh and Nadia Moidu starrer En Veedu En Kanavar. He was spotted as the boy dragging the cycle along with a girl in a particular scene from the film. As a grown up, he was seen in newcomer Selva’s film, Amaravathi.