Nyla Usha

In this Indian name, the name Usha is matronymic, and the person should be referred by the given name Nyla

Nyla Usha Gopakumar is an Indian actress, television host, and radio jockey from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.^[1] After working for nearly a decade as an RJ at Hit 96.7 in Dubai, she made her acting debut in 2013 with Kunjananthante Kada.^[2]

Nyla Usha
Born	Nyla Usha Gopakumar Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Alma mater	All Saints College Thiruvananthapuram
Occupations	Film actress radio jockey model TV host
Years active	2004–present
Spouse	Rona Rajan ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	1
Parents	Gopakumar (father) Usha Kumari (mother)
Relatives	Jishnu Raghavan (Cousin) Raghavan Alingkil (Uncle)

Early life and education

Nyla was born to Gopakumar and Usha Kumari in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She did her schooling at the Holy Angel's Convent Thiruvananthapuram and pursued her college education at All Saints College, Thiruvananthapuram. In 2004, she moved to Dubai and joined the radio station Hit 96.7 where she still works as a radio jockey.^[3]

Career

2013–2015: Debut and success

In 2013, Nyla Usha debuted in the Malayalam film industry with Salim Ahamed's Kunjananthante Kada, opposite Mammootty. Ahamed had known Nyla since she had interviewed him on several occasions in Dubai and offered her the lead female role.^[4] She played Chithira, a woman who is going through an unhappy marriage.^[5]

Later that year she had her second release, Punyalan Agarbattis, in which she played "a vibrant girl, similar to the real me".^[6] Since she could relate herself to the character, she used her own looks and costumes in the film.^[7] Although she had a major role in Kunjananthante Kada she said that it was her role in Punyalan Agarbathis that fetched her recognition.^[8] She played the female lead in Aashiq Abu's 2014 crime film Gangster and Deepu Karunakaran's 2015 thriller Fireman.^[9]

2016–present: Experimental roles and success

From 2016 to 2017, she hosted the Malayalam version of Minute to Win It in Mazhavil Manorama. She essayed the role of Effymol in Diwanjimoola Grand Prix in 2018.

In 2019, she had two releases, Prithviraj Sukumaran-directed action drama Lucifer, in which she played a TV channel executive,^[10] and Joshiy-directed action drama Porinju Mariam Jose, in which she played Mariam, one of the three title characters.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Films

Year	Title	Role	Ref	Notes
2013	Kunjananthante Kada	Chithira	[11][12]	Debut film
	Punyalan Agarbattis	Anu	[13]
2014	Gangster	Sana Ibrahim	[citation needed]
2015	Fireman	Sherin Thomas IPS	[14]
	Pathemari	Herself as RJ	[15]	Cameo appearance
2016	Pretham	Maya	[16]	Cameo appearance
2018	Diwanjimoola Grand Prix	Effymol	[17]
2019	Lucifer	Arundhathi Sajeev	[18]
	Porinju Mariam Jose	Alappattu Mariyam Varghese	[19]
2022	Priyan Ottathilanu	Priscilla	[20]
	Paappan	Nancy Abraham	[21]
2023	Kunjamminis Hospital	Riny Titus	[22]
	King of Kotha	Manju	[23]
	Antony	Maya	[24]
2025	L2: Empuraan	Arundhathi Sanjeev	[25]

Television

Year	Show	Role	Channel
2021	Colors Food Trial	Host	Colors TV
2020	Snehathode Veetil Ninnu	Host	Mazhavil Manorama
2016–2017	Minute To Win It	Host	Mazhavil Manorama
2016–2017	Global Greetings	Host	Asianet
2023–2024	The Next Top Anchor	Judge	ManoramaMAX Mazhavil Manorama

Awards

Year	Work	Category	Result	Ref.
Masala Awards
2012	Radio Presenter	Best Radio Presenter	Won	[26]
Asiavision Awards
2013	Kunjananthante Kada	Best Debut Actress	Won	[11][12]
Flowers TV Awards
2017	Minute to Win It	Best Anchor	Won	[27]
Ramu Karyat Awards
2020	Porinju Mariam Jose	Best Actress	Won	[28]
Vanitha Film Awards
2020	Porinju Mariam Jose	Best Character Actress	Won	[19][29]