Ambika was born in 1962 to Kunjan Nair and Sarasamma at Kallara village, located in Thiruvananthapuram district. Her mother Kallara Sarasamma was Mahila Congress leader during 2014. She has two younger sisters, Radha and Mallika, and two younger brothers, Arjun and Suresh. Ambika married NRI Premkumar Menon in 1988. They have two sons and settled in America. After they divorced in 1997 she then married actor Ravikanth in 2000, but they divorced in 2002. She is currently settled in Chennai along with her sons.
Career
Ambika started her career as a child artist and later as main heroine and acted in more than 200 South Indian films. Her career as a heroine started with the Malayalam movieSeetha, which only released very late in her career. But with films such as Neelathaamara and Lejjavathi, she became a busy actress within a few years not only in Malayalam, but also in Tamil and Kannada. K. Bhagyaraj introduced Ambika in his movie Antha Ezhu Naatkal. She has been cast alongside Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth in many movies and appeared in glamorous roles in movies such as Kaakki Sattai, Vikram, Kadhal Parisu, Padikkadhavan and Maaveeran. Most of her films have been with actors such as Rajinikanth, Shankar, Mohanlal, Ambarish, Vishnuvardhan, Rajkumar, Mammootty and Vijayakanth. She had a very successful career in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam movies throughout the 1980s. In Tamil and Malayalam, she took on a few bold roles that showcased her versatility and talent. In Kannada, however, she appeared in many roles and songs that were characteristic by being erotic yet understated. Her hot rain songs with Vishnuvardhan are shown frequently on the TV programMidnight Masala and are considered groundbreaking in terms of being bold, stunning and revealing in an otherwise conservative industry. In Tamil, Ambika shot to fame with the movie Kakki Chattai. In the zenith of her career she was paired in the same movie with her sister Radha in Kadhal Parisu, where both actresses demonstrated their acting prowess by taking on roles of two young, beautiful sisters, who had strong, yet conflicting personalities. After she got divorced, she returned to India from U.S later in 1997 and started acting again in films such as Periyamanushan, with Sathyaraj in a glamorous role, Maa Naanaki Pelli in Telugu and with Krishnam Raju and Simmadamari in Kannada. She acted as heroine in Vikaraman's project Mariyathai, in which Vijayakanth acted in father and son roles along with Meena and Meera Jasmin. She acted in Malayalam films such as Angel John with Mohanlal, Thanthonni and Sadgamaya and is currently more active doing TV serials. She has acted in many advertisements. She is a designer too. She has judged many reality shows also. In a film called Medulla Oblangatta she has done lyrics work too.
