Roja was born as Sree Latha in 1972 to Nagaraja Reddy and Lalitha in near Bhakarapeta, Chithoor district, Andhra Pradesh. She was the only girl child with two brothers Kumaraswamy Reddy and Ramaprasad Reddy. Later, the family moved to Hyderabad. She got her bachelor's degree in Political Science from Sri Padmavathi University. Roja learnt Kuchipudi and was performing dance before she entered films.

Film career

Roja entered the Industry with Telugu films. Her first movie was Prema Thapassu with Rajendra Prasad where the complete movie was shot in Tirupati.

She was introduced to the Tamil film industry by director R.K. Selvamani with Chembaruthi along with actor Prashanth. The movie was a hit and paved way for role in another success, Suriyan with Sarath Kumar. Both the films established her in Tamil cinema. She became popular with songs such as "meloor Maman" in the film Makkal Aatchi with Mammootty and "Mastana Mastana" in Raasaiyya with Prabhu Deva. Her performance in films with actors such as Rajnikanth in Veera, and Arjun Sarja in Ayudha Poojai were praised. Roja's major career breakthrough was in the film Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen, directed by Vikraman. Her 100th movie was Pottu Amman. Roja later appeared in supporting roles in films like Arasu (2003), Parijatham (2006), Shambo Shiva Shambo (2010), Golimar (2010), Mogudu (2011), Kodipunju (2011), Veera (2011), Kaavalan (2011) and Saguni (2012).

Political career

Roja joined Telugu Desam and was the president of the Telugu Mahila wing of the Party. During the 2009 state elections, she was involved in confrontations and political antics with her rival opposition party leaders, which ultimately led to her defeat for the second consecutive time in the AP state Assembly elections. In August 2009, She quit TDP and joined YSR Congress party.In 2014 general elections, she won as a MLA from Nagari assembly constituency.

Roja and Meena resembled each other when younger, and Meena acted as Roja's younger sister in several movies. Roja had a penchant for hairdressing and it was evidently seen as whenever she is in the sets, she's seen hairdressing her co-heroines like Devayani, Kushboo, Ranjitha and Mumtaz to name a few. According to Ramya Krishna, her friend and co-star, Roja is one of the few artists who can do their make-up themselves. Actress Mumtaz in an interview praised Roja's willingness and egoless attitude when she did her hair and make-up during a Singapore Film Show in 2003.

Political controversies

Despite R.K. Roja being an active speaker among women MLA's she has been suspended from attending the legislative assembly for one year.^[12] The decision was taken by majority in the legislative house, on 18 December 2015, and by the approval of the Speaker.^[10][11][12] Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, leader of the opposition, opposed the suspension. There were several concerns on the procedure followed while suspending Roja. Such doubts made the opposition to move no-trust motion against the speaker.^[13] An issue was raised by the opposition party on how the media clipping, property of the house, released and published on social media without the speaker's approval and the speaker also noted their concern and set up an inquiry to probe the issue further and submit a report by next meeting.^[14]

On 11 February 2017, Roja was arrested in Vijayawada for attempting to attend the National Women's Parliament (NWP) in the city, which she was not allowed to attend although she was registered, invited, and was on the NWP's welcoming committee.^[15]

Roja played the role of anchor in a show named Modern Mahalakshmi before getting replaced by Anasuya. This show is telecasted in MAA TV. She is the judge for a comedy show named Jabardasth. This show is telecasted in E TV. she hosted one show for Zee Tamizh called lucka kicka.

Roja married Tamil film director R.K. Selvamani on 10 August 2002. The couple have one daughter and one son.

Telugu cinema

Tamil cinema

(Successful movies in bold)

Malayalam cinema

Kannada cinema