[2] Padmapriya hails from Delhi and was born to Janakiraman, a distinguished brigadier in the Indian Army, and Vijaya, both of Tamilian descent.

For her portrayal of a mother of a young girl, who struggles to accommodate another child, a victim of the Gujarat earthquake, she received rave reviews and the Asianet Award for Best Female New Face of the Year.

[6] In 2005, she acted in her first Tamil-language film, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, a drama that dealt with familial bond, depicting a father-son relationship, in which she was paired opposite actor-director Cheran.

Her first release that year was Vadakkum Nathan, which Padmapriya considers as her debut film, citing: "I started taking this career seriously with that movie".

The latter was a psychological thriller directed by Vasanth, where she enacted the role of a helpless wife, who gets kidnapped by her former husband, whom she had divorced due to his alcohol addiction.

[13] She also starred in the Tamil cowboy-based film Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam as an army officer's daughter,[12] and in the Malayalam Kutty Shrank with Mammootty.

[14] NDTV wrote that her "beauty and acting skills helped in portraying the role to perfection and 'young Gracy' ends as the saving 'grace' of the film".

He is from Gujarat and works as the Policy Head for South Asia at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which is headquartered in Massachusetts Institute of Technology.