Yenigandla Vijaya is an Indian actress and classical dancer. She has appeared in more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages.

Y. Vijaya was born in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.^{[citation needed]} She was brought up in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh.^[1][2] Her father Yenigandla Jnanayya is a district manager in a cooperative marketing society. Her mother Balamma was a house-wife. Her family originally hailed from Guntur district. Vijaya has 9 siblings; 5 sisters, and 4 brothers. She is fifth among them.^{[citation needed]} One of her brothers Y. Raja is a TV actor.^{[citation needed]}

She studied in Government girls high school in Kadapa till her 8th standard. She was interested in Science and Hindi subjects. Her parents observed that she was dancing to the tune of Radio music when she was just three years old. Also she used to dance in her school for stage shows. So they decided to teach her dance.^{[citation needed]}

During summer holidays after she finished her 8th standard, her parents took her to Vempati China Sathyam, famous dance guru to teach her dance. To continue dance classes, they decided to join her in Kesari High school in Chennai. She studied 9th and 10th standard in that school. Her dance performance debut was in 1975 in Kadapa. Later she did many stage shows in Tamil Nadu. Once there were floods in their place. Actors N. T. Rama Rao, and Akkineni Nageswara Rao visited their place to gather money for the flood-affected areas. She met them for the first time. She went on to play heroine against N.T. Rama Rao in the film Sri Krishna Satya.^{[citation needed]}

She used to learn dance under Vempati China Satyam in Madras. Once, the producers of the film Nindu Hrudayalu visited their dance institute and roped her in for a beggar character who also knows dance. That was her first opportunity in films.

Vijaya married Amalanathan on 27 January 1985.^[1] He used to work as a correspondent in a college. After retiring, he entered into business. Vijaya lives in Mahalingapuram, Chennai with her family.^[1] She has a daughter Anushya who got married in 2013.^{[citation needed]}