Published Nov 07, 2026 | 3:11 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 07, 2026 | 3:11 PM
Prominent actor Abhirami, who has appeared in over 10 Malayalam movies is Nithya Raman's first cousin.
Now Malayalam cinema can say, “Enikk Thiruvananthapurath mathramalla US lum und vendapettavar (I don’t just have influence in Thiruvananthapuram; I have people in the US too).”
While Malayalees celebrate newly elected Los Angeles mayor Nithya Raman’s connection to Keralam’s capital city, another link between the Democratic politician and the South Indian film industry has also emerged.
Prominent actor Abhirami, who has appeared in over 10 Malayalam movies and acted across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada industries, is Nithya Raman’s first cousin.
45-year-old Nithya Raman, who was born in Thiruvananthapuram, won the mayoral contest, defeating incumbent Karen Bass to become the first Indian-American to lead the second-largest city in the United States.
According to Raman’s cousin, Vidhya Sankar, who lives in Kumarapuram, the Los Angeles mayor’s father is the maternal uncle of South Indian actor Abhirami. Born Divya Gopikumar, the actress adopted the screen name Abhirami after becoming “obsessed with the role and the name” of the female lead in Kamal Haasan’s Gunaa.
While speaking to a Malayalam news channel, Vidhya Sankar showed pictures of both the cousins from their childhood. She also stated that the family is excited and proud of Nithya Raman’s achievements.
“We are very excited. Nithya has visited here several times. Her last visit was about five years ago, when she brought her two children to meet her paternal grandfather here,” Sankar said.
“May Nithya achieve everything she wishes for. We are all proud of her,” she added.
Little known outside political circles until a few years ago, Raman emerged as a prominent progressive politician, drawing comparisons with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani because of her association with democratic socialism and her focus on housing, homelessness and urban welfare.
Raman was born on 28 July 1981, in Thiruvananthapuram, her father’s home city. She lived with her parents in the Kottakkakom area of the capital city in the initial years of her childhood. She left the country and migrated to the US at the age of 6.
Abhirami, who was recently seen in Subash K. Raj’s Blast alongside actor Srinivasa Sarja, also spent her childhood and attended college in Thiruvananthapuram. She migrated to the US in 2004 and took a ten-year break from acting, while also studying there, before returning to the film industry in 2014.
(Edited by Fayisa CA.)
