Asin Thottumkal known as Asin (born 26th October, 1985 in Kochi, India) is a popular film actress. She debuted in Malayalam but eventually made a big breakthrough in Telugu and Tamil cinema industries. The name Asin is the combination of the prefix "A" from the Sanskrit language and the word "Sin" from the English language. It means - "Without blemish - pure".

Asin Thottumkal debuted in the Malayalam film Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, directed by Sathyan Anthikkad but it did not do well at the box-office. Her breakthrough as an actress came with her first Telugu language film when she played the role of a Tamil girl in the successful Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja.

Initially many in the Tamil industry considered her to be a jinx as the initial movies she signed in Tamil were either cancelled, delayed or faced financial problems. Although she signed Ullam Ketkumae as her first Tamil film, her first release was M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi which was a remake of her Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi. The movie went on to be one of the biggest hits in 2004 and introduced Asin to Kollywood.

Her movie Ghajini with Surya, which was released both in Tamil and Telegu, was a box office hit in both industries. Many movies followed and Asin played opposite some popular actors in South Indian Cinema, among them Surya, Vijay, Vikram and Ajith, with whom she starred in Varalaru.Her next movies include Pokiri with Vijay, Aalwar with Ajith Kumar and Dasavatharam with Kamal Haasan. She was roped in to play heroine in Sillunu Oru Kaadhal with Surya, but opted out because her character was to play second fiddle to Jyothika. She was subsequently replaced with Bhoomika Chawla. Asin recently won the Filmfare Best Actress Award South for her role in Ghajini.Asin is also brand ambassador for various products including Parachute, Fairever, Close-Up and Mirinda. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai alongside many other co-stars.

Tamil actor Asin, just six films old, was declared the most popular South Indian actor for 2006 in a viewer's poll by entertainment web portal Sifymax.

Asin attended an event organised by Sifymax to thank her fans for voting for her, meet winners of a related contest, and mingle with children with HIV/AIDS recently.

Of the 1 lakh people who participated in the poll, Asin got 45 per cent of the votes. In another contest run by the web portal, there were 20,000 ringtones downloaded from Asin's movies in a week.

Awards and Achievements:

Filmfare Awards

2005: Won Best Actress Award for Ghajini Filmfare [Tamil]

2003: Won Best Actress Award for Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi [Telugu]

Santosham Film Awards

2003: Won Best Actress Award for Shivamani 9848022338 [Telugu]