Manya is an Indian actress who mainly acted in Malayalam and Telugu films along with a few Kannada movies.^[1] She began her acting career in Telugu cinema. In 2000, she was introduced to Malayalam films by director Lohithadas and acted in Joker opposite Dileep.^[2] The success of the movie led to a series of more Malayalam movies films outside her mother language, Telugu.^{[citation needed]}

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (May 2011)

Manya was born 17 October 1982^[3] to Prahladan who was a doctor in England and Padmini in Naidu family of Andhra Pradesh, grew up in England and moved to South India at the age of 9. She has a younger sister, Anjana.^[4] Manya married Satya Patel on 31 May 2008.^[5] Later they got divorced. In 2013 Manya married Vikas Bajpai, they have a daughter born in 2016.^{[citation needed]}

She started modelling at the age of 14, as a child artist. She soon started acting and went on to act in more than 40 movies in many South Indian languages.^[6] She holds a dual degree in maths and statistics, minoring in quantitative finance; she also pursued an MBA from Columbia University.^[6] She worked as Assistant Vice President in Credit Suisse, New York. Currently working with Citi as Vice President.^[7]

• 2002: Drisya Television & Audio Awards: Best Actress (Special Jury) Award : Kanmani, 2002 (Malayalam) (Asianet)