Kaviyoor Ponnamma

Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television.

She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema.

She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing credits in few films.

Ponnamma is a four-time Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress winner.

Her sister Kaviyoor Renuka was also an actress.

Often called as the Mother to all actors, she has acted as mother of almost all actors in her career panning over decades.

She was born to T. P. Damodharan and Gauri, as the eldest of seven children, on 10 September 1945 in Kaviyoor, Thiruvalla.

At the age of 20, she played the mother of Sathyan and Madhu in the 1965 movie Thommente Makkal.

She gained critical acclaim for acting as the mother of the actor Mohanlal.

As a five-year-old, she learned music and used to sing in stage shows.

She started acting in dramas when she was 14 years old with Mooladhanam by Thoppil Bhasi.

After five years, came her first movie Kudumbini, in which she did the title role of the mother of two kids.

Ponnamma was married to film producer Maniswami in 1969.

The couple has a daughter Bindhu who is married and settled in United States.

She has six siblings in which Kaviyoor Renuka (d. 2004), her younger sister, was also an actress.

Film City Magazine- Chalachitra Ratnam' Title - 2006

Pappanamkode Lakshmanan Award - 2006

O. Madhavan Award - 2009

Ponnamma's husband Maniswami died in 2011.

Kerala State Film Awards:

Bharath Murali Award - 2012

Kala Ratna award - EV Kala Mandalam - 2013

Gurupranam - Honour by Malayalam Cine Technicians’ Association (MACTA) - 2013

PK Rosy Award - 2015

Honour by KSFDC - 2015

Honour by Kerala State Film Awards - 2016

Good Knight Film and Business Awards - 2017

Felicitation by Kerala State Film Awards - 2017

Kausalya Vandanam programme Honour - 2017

Kalaiselvam Award - Government of Tamil Nadu

Honour by Kaviyoor Panchayat

DLSA Honour