Pooja Ramachandran is an Indian actress, VJ and model. After her studies, she participated in beauty pageants, winning the 'Miss Coimbatore 2004' title and was the runner up for Miss Kerala 2005. She then went on to become a VJ at SS Music before venturing into acting. Pooja is from Kerala, born and raised in Bangalore. She entered as a wild card contestant in the Telugu reality TV show Bigg Boss Telugu 2.
Pooja first featured in an advertisement when she was eight. Before the Miss Coimbatore title she had already done some assignments in Bangalore and Coimbatore. Pooja had also played a cameo in the Jayaram-Soundarya starrer Yathrakarude Sradhakku. In February 2006, Pooja became a VJ at SS Music after she, along with Anuj Gurwara, Purnima Maudgil and Gibran, were selected as the winners out of 3000 contestants in SS Music's pan-India talent hunt show VJ Factor 2. She hosted shows like PCO, Gana Bajaana, Connect and Cinema Central. Later she hosted the showUlagam Muzhuthum Paranthu Paranthu on Jaya TV. She was also a contestant in Anu Alavum Bayamillai becoming the winner of the first season, and acted in the thriller serial Kanchana, both on STAR Vijay. After 2012, Pooja became a full-time actress, signing feature films across Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries. She was seen in minor roles in the romantic comedyKadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi, its Telugu version Love Failure and the thriller Pizza in 2012. The following year, she played supporting roles in the Telugu filmSwamy Ra Ra and the Malayalam filmsLucky Star and D Company. With regard to her performance in Swamy Ra Ra, Sify called her "perfect", while Nowrunning.com's Veeyen in his review of Lucky Star wrote that she "deliver outstanding performance" and "brings in such astounding believability to her character of an NRI". Her first 2014 release, Adavi Kaachina Vennela, saw her playing a homemaker. Pooja completed filming for the romantic dramaOre Nyabagam, which is reportedly India's first 2D high frame rate film. She is further more working on the suspense thrillerAndhaghaaram, the horror-comedy ', the romantic comedy Nanbenda and Swamy Ra Ras Tamil remake Saamiyattam'', while she also has been signed for two Telugu films. She married VJ Craig in 2010 but divorced him in 2017. She married actor John Kokken on 15 April 2019.
