Jayasudha made her film debut when she was thirteen years old with the
Telugu film Pandanti Kapuram (1972). Director
K. Balachander gave her a small role in the Tamil film
Arangetram where she shared space with
Kamal Haasan. She acted in a number of films in Telugu and Tamil mostly under Balachander's direction
Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973),
Naan Avanillai (1974) and
Apoorva Raagangal and in
Idi Katha Kaadu with
Chiranjeevi. She also changed her name to Jayasudha, since there was already another actress named Sujatha. Her fame quickly spread, where
Telugu film producers were offering her good film roles. While her debut role as a heroine in the
Telugu film Lakshmana Rekha (1975) got her attention, it was really the title role in
Jyothi (remake of the Hindi film
Mili starring
Jaya Bhaduri) that made her a big star in Telugu films. She was now called a successor to the great Telugu actress
Savitri and performed many strong roles and showed excellent range. She also showed innovativeness and lack of vanity in original Telugu films like
Premabhishekam (1981) where she played a supporting role as a deglamorized prostitute, while
Sridevi played the female lead. She has acted in 300-plus feature films in a variety of roles, and in one year, she had 24 film releases. She has made her unique space in the Telugu cinema industry amidst a huge competition between her contemporary actresses
Sridevi and
Jayaprada. ==Awards==