Kalki Koechlin

About Kalki Koechlin

Kalki Koechlin is a French-Indian actress and writer. Known for her unconventional body of work in the Hindi film industry, she is the recipient of such accolades as a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, and two Screen Awards. Although a French citizen, she has lived most of her life in India.
Born in Pondicherry, India, to French parents, Koechlin was drawn to theatre from a young age. She studied drama at Goldsmiths, University of London, and worked simultaneously with a local theatres company. After returning to India, she made her screen debut as Chanda in the drama Dev.D in 2009–and won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Subsequently, she starred in two of the highest-grossing films of their respective release years–the comedy dramas Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), both of which garnered her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Filmfare Awards. Koechlin expanded her career into screenwriting with the 2011 crime thriller That Girl in Yellow Boots, in which she also played the lead role.
Koechlin's continued association with such commercial films as the supernatural thriller Ek Thi Daayan (2013) and the musical drama Gully Boy (2019) sustained her success, as she continued to draw praise for her performances in independent films, including the comedy drama Waiting (2015) and the slice of life film Ribbon (2017). She won further acclaim and a National Film Award for her role of a young woman with cerebral palsy in the coming of age drama Margarita with a Straw (2014). Beginning in late 2010s, Koechlin made a transition to web content and appeared in a spate of successful web series. She drew particular praise for her portrayal of a lonely socialite in Prime Video's Made in Heaven and a self-styled godwoman in Netflix's Sacred Games (both 2019).
Koechlin has written, produced, and acted in several stage productions. She co-wrote the drama Skeleton Woman (2009), which won her The MetroPlus Playwright Award, and made her directorial debut on stage with the tragicomedy Living Room (2015). Koechlin is also an activist and promotes various causes ranging from health and education to women empowerment and gender equality.

Kalki Koechlin was born in Pondicherry, India. She is a descendant of Maurice Koechlin, a French structural engineer who played an important role in the design and construction of the Eiffel Tower. Koechlin's parents are devotees of Sri Aurobindo, and she spent a significant amount of her early childhood in Auroville. The family later settled in Kallatty, a village near Ooty in Tamil Nadu, where Koechlin's father established a business designing hang-gliders and ultralight aircraft.

Koechlin was brought up in a strict environment in Ooty where she spoke English, Tamil, and French. Her parents divorced when she was fifteen; her father moved to Bangalore and remarried, while Koechlin continued living with her mother. She has described the time that she spent at Kalatty between the ages of 5 and 8, before her parents' divorce, as her "happiest". Koechlin has a half-brother from her mother's previous marriage, and a half-brother from her father's subsequent marriage.Koechlin studied at Hebron School, a boarding school in Ooty, where she was involved in acting and writing. She has admitted to being shy and quiet as a child. Koechlin aspired to study psychiatry and become a criminal psychologist. After completing her schooling ...

Movies Appeared in

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Kalki Koechlin and Surveen Chawla on Sacred Games Season 2| The Quint

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Spotlight: Zoya Akhtar & Kalki Koechlin On 'Made In Heaven' & More

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