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Star is born
Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948 at Melukote, Pandavapura taluka, Mandya district, then in Mysore State (now Karnataka) to Jayaram and Vedavalli in a Tamil Brahmin (Iyengar) family. Jayalalitha was given her grandmother's name Komalavalli at the time of birth. -
Child actress
Starts her film career as a child artist. Acts in English, Kannada and Hindi language films. Epistle, the only English movie in her career, was the first movie she started shooting for. -
Lead roles
Debuts as lead actress in a Kannada film called 'Chinnada Gombe' (golden doll) at the age of 15 alongside veteran actors like B. R. Panthulu, Kalyan Kumar, M. V. Rajamma.
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M.G.R connection
A relationship blossoms between the two -- first as a co-star and later as a political protege -- stretching for two decades, until MGR's death in 1987.