Asin Thottumkal, known mononymously as Asin, is an Indian actress. The actress can speak seven languages; being well-versed in Malayalam (her mother tongue), Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, French, English and Sanskrit. Asin also learnt basic Marathi for her movie Khiladi 786 in which she played a typical Marathi girl.
Background
Asin was born in Cochin, Kerala, India in the Malayalam-speaking Thottumkal family which consists of her dad, Joseph, and mom, Dr. Seline, who practices in Ernakulam. She hails from Thottumkal family which is a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family spread mainly in Thodupuzha, Muvattupuzha and Pala. Her father is a businessman and her mother a surgeon. Asin's father was keen to name her as Mary, after her grandmother. He however named her Asin as the name had a beautiful meaning. Asin has quoted that her name means "pure and without blemish". She states that the 'A' in her name is from Sanskrit meaning "without", and 'sin' from English"
Education
She attended Naval Public School in Cochin, and after obtaining her Matriculation, was enrolled in St. Theresa's Higher Secondary School. She scored over 90% in her X board exams but chose Humanities in XI standard, shocking her family who were confident she would take up science and get into the civil services.
After successfully obtaining her Higher Secondary School Certificate, she enrolled in St. Theresa's College to continue studying in the Arts Faculty. She obtained a Degree in B.A. English Literature. She attended a college affiliated with MG University, where she graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature
Career
After obtaining a Degree in B.A. English Literature, she assisted her dad in his business and also took up modeling on the side. Her modeling assignments included Colgate Toothpaste, and Fairever Cream. Asin's first acting assignment was a television advertisement for BPL Mobile. She made her debut on the tinsel screen through director Sathyan Anthikad's "Narendaran Makan" with Malayalyee actor Kunjachacko Boban. After her initial success, she was offered Telugu movies, and warmly welcomed in the Telugu film industry.. Asin had her first commercial success with the Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003. M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi (2004) was her debut in Tamil and a huge success. She then played the lead female roles in success films Pokkiri (2007), Dasavathaaram (2008). In late 2008, Asin made her debut in the Bollywood film Ghajini (2008) opposite Aamir Khan which was the first Bollywood film to have collected more than 100 crore in the domestic box office.In 2011 she played in Anees Bazmee's romantic comedy, Ready. The film was a major hit at the box office. In 2012, Asin first starred in Sajid Khan's multistarrer Housefull 2 opposite Akshay Kumar.
Religion
She belongs to Saint Thomas Christian community. Asin was born in to a Syro-Malabar Catholic Nasrani family.
Politics
She supports the education of poor children
Views
Quotations:
Love is to extend oneself to nurture the all around development of another as a person.
The importance of health and the necessity of education is probably one of the biggest women centric issues in our country. I support the education of six children each year, five of which are girls. I have closely worked with these children and I know that if given the opportunity, women can educate themselves much better and know what is wrong or right for them. Education is a basic right and women should not be deprived of that.