Ileana

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Gayatri

She is your average 18-year old except that she put up a sizzling performance in the Tamil film, 18 Vayasu.

Luck and breaks pounce on you out of nowhere and that's what happened with her. She was bowling with her friends at an alley in Bangalore when she was spotted and offered a role by Krishna, the director of Suriya's super hit Sillunu Oru Kadhal. She finally convinced her parents for a test shoot and then Krishna convinced them to allow her to act. Though her first film didn't release, she was seen by director R. Panneerselvam for 18 Vayasu and thus began her career.

Remya Nambeesan

This malayalee starlet has been around in South cinema for quite sometime. But this year she did a great job in debutant Karthik Subbaraj's Pizza which went on to become a super hit.

With more releases in the tow and a trackrecord of good performances, Remya is definitely here to stay. With just one solid performance she has climbed into our top ten, so guess what's going to happen with more.

Bindu Madhavi

Its been four years since she debuted in the Tamil film industry but 2012 was the year which gave her two releases, Kazhugu and Sattam Oru Irutarrai , both of which raised some buzz but didn't actually make a huge BO impact.

Bindu Madhavi may not have great commercial success this year but 2012 has helped her bag some meaty roles in upcoming entertainers.

Varalakshmi Sarathkumar

Her debut aroused more interest than any other in recent years. After all she is the daughter of the amazing Sarathkumar who has defied age and stereotypes to be loved and admired by film lovers across south. Her debut Poda Podi was not received too well but her performance was noted by many critics to be the silver lining in the project.

She will be seen next in Sundar C's Madha Gadha Raja opposite Vishal Krishna.

Ileana D'Cruz

Ileana had a great year up north but it was her Tamil hit Nanban opposite Vijay , directed by Shankar, which kept her name alive down south.

Ileana may have had a lean year in South Cinema but her performance in Nanban was very good. Her looks complimented Shankar's sets perfectly and all-in-all her impact on the Tamil audiences was overwhelming.

Amala Paul

Amala had three major releases in Tamil this year and the success of all three put her in the high leagues of Tamil actresses.

While she played Sameera's sister in Vettai, she played the solo heroine in Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi and Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal. The films were all commercial hits and earned her acclaim and more projects in her Kitty.

Shruthi Haasan

Another one film wonder on this list. Shruti was the part of Dhanush's superhit "Kolaveri..." project aka 3. Unfortunatly the film failed to create any ripples at the B.O.

The film may have failed but her hot and steamy scenes with Dhanush garnered huge interest and the film had a terrific opening. Unfortunately, we will see a lot less of her in Tamil as her next projects are in Tollywood completely.

Lakshmi Menon

This fifteen year old starlet migrated to the Tamil industry this year with Sasikumar's Sundarapandian and she made enough noise for the makers of Kumki (aka Prabhu Solomon) to cast her in the lead role as a tribal girl

Both the roles were very well received by the critics and she grabbed on to more roles in the Tamil industry. We will surely see a lot more of her in near future.

Kajal Agarwal

Kajal Agarwal had two releases in 2012 opposite two of the biggest names in Tamil cinema; Suriya (Mattraan) and Vijay (Thuppaki). Though Maattrraan didn't fare as well as expected, Thuppaki has been declared a blockbuster and has made her a lucky charm in Tamil cinema.

She has a busy year ahead in Telugu and Hindi but there is one project for her in Tamil titled All in All Azhagu Raja opposite the hit-machine Karthi Sivakumar.

Samantha

Again two films in 2012, Naan Ee and Neethaane En Ponvasantham. Both multi-linguals and both hits in their own rights. Samantha is proving that her projects may take a long time coming but when they arrive, they arrive with a bang

Like many other on this list, she has also moved north to Tollywood and will be majorly involved in Telugu films while she has only 1 Tamil film lined up with director N Lingusamy.