

Hegde made her acting debut in Mysskin's Tamil superhero film Mugamoodi (2012) opposite Jiiva, portraying the female lead character of Shakthi, a fun-loving girl who inspires the male lead to change his outlook on society. She re-applied the following year and was the second runner-up in the Miss Universe India 2010 competition. Hegde competed in the Miss India 2009 competition, but was eliminated in an early round despite winning the Miss India Talented 2009 honour. College, where she regularly participated in dance and fashion shows. She did her schooling in Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School, Mumbai. She later learnt Telugu following a career in her respective cinema. Besides Tulu, she is fluent in English, Hindi and Marathi. She also has an elder brother Rishabh Hegde, who is an orthopaedic surgeon. They are originally from Udupi, Karnataka. Her parents are Manjunath Hegde and Latha Hegde. Pooja Hegde was born on 13 October 1990 and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in a Tulu-speaking Bunt family. This was followed by a career setback, as the 2022 films Beast, Radhe Shyam, Acharya and Cirkus, and the 2023 film Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, were poorly received.

Her other commercially successful films include Duvvada Jagannadham (2017), Maharshi (2019), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019) and Housefull 4 (2019). She was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Oka Laila Kosam, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018).

Hegde won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020) and Most Eligible Bachelor (2021). Hegde has established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema. She made her acting debut with the Tamil film Mugamoodi (2012) and had her first Telugu release in Oka Laila Kosam (2014). She began her career as a model and was crowned as the second runner-up at the 2010 I Am She–Miss Universe India pageant. Pooja Hegde ( / p uː dʒ ɑː h ɛ ɡ d eɪ/ born 13 October 1990) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Telugu films in addition to few Hindi and Tamil films.
