Semmalar Annam

Semmalar Annam is an Indian actress and Film Director who works in Tamil-language films. Her film Mayilaa was screened at Rotterdam International Film Festival. She has also directed and acted in more than fifteen short films during her studies at college. After making her feature film debut with Ammani directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, she went on to star in films such as Maadathy, Sennai and the Malayalam film Mmmmm.

Early life and career

After her schooling at Krishnamal Higher Secondary School Coimbatore, she joined for B.Sc., Visual Communication studies at PSG College of Arts and Science and later did her post graduation in Mass Communication and Journalism from PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. After her formal education, she underwent a course on acting and theater at the Stanislavsky Acting School, Chennai.
Semmalar's debut short film Malarmathi, about a sexually abused orphan won the best film and best director award at Legend 2010, a state-level short film festival organized by Department of Visual Communication, Sathyabama University, Chennai.
In the film Ammani, she plays the frustrated daughter-in-law of the main character: Salamma, a hard-working government hospital worker. Semmalar played major roles in several independent films such as Maadathy, Sennai, and the Malayalam film Mmmmm while she had minor roles in several major productions, with her roles in Valimai and Bachelor edited out from the final cuts. She played a dalit mother in Maadathy. Regarding her performance, a critic wrote that "Semmarlar Annam in a yet another remarkable performance. How long will the mainstream filmmakers ignore her?" In Sennai, she played the lead role while she played a member of the honey hunter Kurumba tribe in Mmmmm. Regarding her performance in Thunikaram, a critic wrote that "Though Semmalar Annam doesn't have much scope to perform, she does a decent job in the given time".

All films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.
;As director

;As an actress

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2016	Ammani	Amudha
2017	Magalir Mattum	Housewife in Prabhavathy's documentary
2017	Kurangu Bommai	Mother of kidnapped child
2018	Street Lights	Malar	Malayalam film
2019	Thambi	Gunavathi
2019	Maadathy	Veni
2019	Kattumaram	Malar
2019	Sillu Karuppatti	Aishwarya	Turtles segment
2020	Ponmagal Vandhal	A kid's mother
2020	The Tremor	Mysterious woman
2021	Sennai	Annam	WonRising Star Emerging Actress, Toronto Tamil International Film Festival, 2021
2021	Mmmmm	Tribal woman	Malayalam film
2022	Thunikaram	Semmalar
2022	Repeat Shoe	Child trafficker's henchman
2023	Yaathisai	Einar clan member
2023	Thandatti	Virumayi
2023	Maaveeran	Selvi
2023	Appatha	Villager
2023	The Road	Manga
2023	Kattil
2023	Aayiram Porkaasukal	Aarayi
2024	Ayalaan	Cancer-affected girl's mother
2024	Kalvan	District Forest Officer
2024	Andhagan	Rasi
2024	Neela Nira Sooriyan
2025	Rambo