She started her schooling in Naval Public School, Kochin. She has completed her B.A. English Literature at St. Teresa’s College, Kochi. She has shifted from her home town Kochi to Chennai, where she stays on Harrington Road. Before becoming an actress, she was a part-time model and a businesswoman. Asin was born into a Syrian Christian family from Ernakulam in Kochi district, Kerala.
Her father, Joseph Thotumkal, managed several businesses and was considered a prominent
entrepreneur before he stopped managing his businesses and decided to manage his daughter's acting career instead. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal, remains a surgeon despite moving settlements from Cochin to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter. Asin has quoted that her name "means without blemish and pure". She claims that "the 'A' in [her] name is from Sanskrit and word ‘Sin’ from English". She also mentions that she "has not come across anyone with same name."
Making her acting debut in Sathyan Anthikkad's Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (2001),
Asin had her first commercial success with Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a
Filmfare Award for the Best Telugu Actress for the film.
Asin Thottumkal debuted in a supporting role in Sathyan Anthikkad's unsuccessful Malayalam film Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001, at the age of 15. After taking a year out to pursue her education, Asin returned with her breakthrough film as an actress, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi opposite Ravi Teja, portraying a Tamil girl in her first Telugu language film, which subsequently fetched her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the same year she won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance alongside Nagarjuna in her second Telugu film, Shivamani. Her following two Telugu films, Lakshmi Narasimha and Gharshana, both portrayed Asin as the love interest for police officers, giving her two more solid hit films, cementing her place as a leading actress in the Telugu film industry.
After a number of critically and commercially successful films, she received her second South Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in her second Tamil film, Ghajini (2005). She played the lead female roles in two consecutive top grossers, Ghajini (2005) which is her biggest commercial success to date, and the action comedy Varalaru (2006) and this way has established herself as one of the most prominent leading actresses of South Indian cinema. More recently, Asin made her début in Bollywood, with Ghajini, the remake of its Tamil version.
