Samantha was Born on April 28, 1987 to a Malayali mother and a Telugu father, Samantha was brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu as the youngest child of the family to Prabhu and Ninette and two elder brothers Jonathan and David, whilst becoming fluent in the Tamil language. As a part of her education,Samantha completed her schooling from Holy Angels Anglo-India High School, T.Nagar and a degree in co
mmerce at Stella Maris College, Chennai. The film, a simultaneous remake of the Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, created much anticipation prior to release, primarily due to the first-time-collaboration between Menon and composer A. Rahman. The actress was signed up for the project in mid August 2009 and completed schedules across India and the United States for the film which released in February 2010. The film portrays Samantha as the lead character of Jessie, which was also the working title of the film; a Malayali Christian girl living in Hyderabad, whom the male protagonist, played by Naga Chaitanya falls in love with. Upon release, Samantha received very positive reviews for her portrayal, with the film also garnering much critical acclaim. Critics at Sify claimed that Samantha was the “scene-stealer” and her beauty “is alluring” adding that “she was the girl to watch out for”. Jeevi, from the Idlebrain reviews site, cited that “Samantha’s debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema” and that her “minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her”, whilst labelling the film as a “classic”. Samantha, alongside her co-star, Naga Chaitanya, also appeared in a guest appearance in the Tamil version of the film. Both films emerged as grand successes whilst becoming trendsetters in Tamil and Telugu respectively, propelling Samantha to sign bigger projects. She followed up her collaborations with Gautham Menon and A. Rahman by appearing in the music video for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 promotional song, Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam, which Menon directed and Rahman composed.
