Malayalam movie actresses have been part of the Malayalam Industry and have been popular stars. Many Bollywood actresses have also emerged from Malayalam films like Rambha, Revathi and many others. Urvashi is a famous Malayalam actress who appeared in a number of films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She is the sister of reputed actresses Kalaranjini and Kalpana. Adoor Bhavani is an actress in Malayalam movies who is known for appearance in the national award winning film Chemmeen, directed by Ramu Kariat. She also acted in Mudiyanaya Puthran and Thulabharam.

Gouthami Tadimalla also acted in a couple of Malayalam films. Padmini was a brilliant Indian actress and trained Bharathanatyam dancer who acted in over 250 Indian movies. She was more popular as a Malayalam actress and also did a number of regional films. As with most of the other Indian film industries, the Malayalam film industry is driven by male actors. The popular female actors of Malayalam cinema are Sharada, Sheela, Jayabharathi, Vidhubala, Srividya, Shobhana, Revathi, Urvashi, Manju Warrier, Samyuktha Varma, Kavya Madhavan and Meera Jasmine.

Malayalam female actors have won the National Film Award for Best Actress 5 times. The winners are Sharada (1969, 1973, 1979), Monisha (1987), Shobana (1994, 2002), Meera Jasmine (2004) and Priyamani (2007). There are actresses who have won the Special Jury Award and they are Jomol (1998), Manju Warrier (1999) and Jyothirmayi (2003). Some of the popular supporting actresses are K.P.A.C. Lalitha and Bindu Panicker.

The famous actresses of Malayalam Film industry today are Bhavna, Nithya menon, swetha menon, Roma, Ramya Nambeesan, Samvritha, Archana Jose Kavi and so on.