Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer, professionally credited as Priyamani, is an Indian film actress and former model who works in films in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. She established a career in regional Indian films and received a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards in films in different languages.

Priyamani was born on June 4, 1984 into a Tamil-speaking family in Bangalore at Vasudeva Mani Iyer and Latha Mani Iyer. She modeled for Kancheepuram bristles, Erode bristles and Lakshmi bristles during her school years. When she was in the 12th Standard, Tamil Director, Bharathiraja introduced her to the film industry. Her father, from a Tamil family in Palakkad, owns a plantation business, and his mother, a former national level badminton player, Lathamani, from Thiruvananthapuram, was a bank manager at Union Bank of India. She has an elder brother, Vishakh, who works in the field of plantations with her father, while at school she has been actively involved in extracurricular activities and sports activities. She is the granddaughter of the carnatic singer Kamala Kailas. She is the cousin of the actress Vidya Balan and the niece of the singer, Malgudi Shubha.

Priyamani was educated at Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and attended Bishop Cotton Women’s College on J C Road. After completing his studies, she modeled for print advertisements. she is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Correspondence Psychology.

Priyamani married Mustafa Raj, an event organizer, at a private ceremony on August 23, 2017. she later said that despite the marriage to a Muslim, she still practiced Hinduism and was a moderately religious person.