Catherine Tresa Biography

Catherine grew up in a well-educated family settled in Dubai. She has been encouraged to pursue whatever she wished for from the childhood. She learnt playing piano, singing and dance at a very young age. After completing her 12th standard in Dubai, the actress moved to Bangalore to do higher studies. With Kannada film ‘Shankar IPS’, Catherine entered into the film industry.

Born to Malayali parents Mario Alexandar and Tresa Alexander, Catherine’s entire childhood was spent in Dubai. She had a brother named Christopher Alexandar who committed suicide at a very yong age for reasons unknown. 

Catherine Tresa Early Career

Starting off with the Kannada film ‘Shankar IPS’, unlike other heroines, Catherine hasn’t stuck to her debuting industry but looked out for all different other industries in South. For her second film ‘The Thriller’, the actress moved to Mollywood. And after doing back to back films ‘Vishnu’ and ‘Godfather’ in Kannada, she acted in two popular Telugu films ‘Iddarammayilatho’ and 'Paisa'.

Catherine Tresa Breakthrough and Continued Success

Although Tamil film industry took three years to gaze upon this new talent, they welcomed her with a hard-hitting political drama ‘Madras’ directed by Pa. Ranjith. Her Tamil debut ‘Madras’ has garnered her plenty of attention making her one of the most sought-after actresses in Kollywood.  Post ‘Madras’, Catherine was juggling between Tollywood and Kollywood doing at least one or two films in each industry per year till 2017. While she acted in two Tamil films ‘Kathakali’ and ‘Kanithan’ in 2016, the actress played Allu Arjun’s love interest in Telugu commercial entertainer 'Sarrainodu' in the same year. In 2017, she acted in three Telugu films namely ‘Goutham Nanda’, ‘Nene Raju Nene Mantri’ and ‘Jaya Janaki Nayaka’ and whereas is in Tamil, she appeared in Arya’s ‘Kadamban’ and Vishnu Vishal’s ‘Kathanayagan’. Notably, in 2015, Catherine appeared as Annambika in Telugu historical period drama 'Rudhramadevi' directed by Gunasekhar. 

Some of the popular films of Catherine Tresa 

Catherine Tresa Popular films

Until she appeared in a powerful role in Pa. Ranjith’s Madras, Catherine couldn’t really earn any prestigious awards. For Madras, the actress has won four awards including Filmfare, Anand Vikatan Award, Edison Award and SIIMA Award.

Catherine has done all of her schooling in Dubai and for higher studies, she moved to Bangalore. She did her graduation from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore.

The actress has modelled for quite a number of brands such as Nalli Silks, Chennai Silks, Josco Jewellers and Fast Tack.

One of the reputed news dailies from South India, Deccan Chronicle mocked at Catherine Tresa by writing an article on her poor Telugu at ‘Sarrainodu’ press meet. Angered by such an outright comment saying that she doesn’t really understand Telugu, the actress issued a statement that the daily is in no position to imply or infer that she doesn’t know her job. She said that she understands the language completely and can converse fluently.