The granddaughter of
Malaysian Tamil actor
Ravichandran, Tanya was interested in a career in films from a young age after seeing her grandfather's work. Her mother, Lavanya Sriram, is a classical dancer and thus trained both Tanya and her sister Apparajitha in Bharathanatyam, with the pair regularly participating in recitals in Chennai during their teenage years. Before her entry into the film industry, she completed a
Bachelor of Commerce degree at
M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women in
Chennai and pursued a master's degree at
Madras School of Social Work. Tanya first successfully auditioned for a film to be directed by
Mysskin in early 2016 and was cast opposite fellow debutant actor Maitreya in the lead role. Mysskin requested her to change her stage name from Abbirami to Tanya for her acting career, which she agreed with. The film was later postponed to allow Mysskin to complete the production of
Thupparivaalan (2017). Hearing that Tanya had been selected for a film by Mysskin, director
Radha Mohan chose to screen test and then sign on the actress to appear in
Brindavanam (2017) during August 2016. Tanya's first release was however
Balle Vellaiyathevaa (2016), a rural comedy drama co-starring
Sasikumar, which she was offered after the makers saw the promotional stills of
Brindavanam. The film opened to mixed reviews in December 2016, with critics noting that Tanya "has nothing to do" and "sleepwalks through the role". Her next film, the comedy drama
Brindavanam was released to positive reviews in May 2017. Set in
Ooty, the film narrates the story of a deaf and dumb boy played by
Arulnithi and his relationship with the film actor
Vivek. Praising her performance, a critic from
The Hindu wrote Tanya "walks away with a wonderful performance in the role of Sandhya" and that "the director deserves appreciation for his sketch of the lead female character; someone who is bold, daring and can make individual choices". Likewise, a reviewer from
The Hindustan Times wrote Tanya "is a talent to watch out for and she's in this for the long haul" and a critic from
The New Indian Express labelled her performance as "thoroughly effervescent". Tanya then featured in
Karuppan (2017), a rural drama featuring her alongside
Vijay Sethupathi and
Bobby Simha. == Personal life ==