Nandini is born to Shivasankaran, an officer at Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and a Tamil mother Poornima, a house wife, on 30 December 1979 in Banglore, Karnataka. She is also known as Kousalya. She is an Indian film actress and model, who has starred mainly in Tamil and Malayalam films. she appeared in her first Tamil film Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga and went on to star in several successful films in Tamil and Malayalam.