Shobana Chandrakumar is an exponent of the Bharathanatyam dance and a leading actress. She is the niece of the Travancore sisters - Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. The veteran actress Ms. Sukumari is an aunt from the paternal side.
Shobana acted for the first time in a leading role in 1984 in the movie titled April 18, directed by Balachandra Menon. She also acted alongside the Malayalam actor Mammootty in the film Kanaamarayathu (1984). Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress from the Government of India in 1994 for her performance in Fazil's Manichitrathaazhu. She received a second National award for best actress in the year 2001 for her role in an English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Shobhana is an accomplished dancer of Bharatanatyam. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her guru is the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer Chitra Visweswaran Shobhana is famed for her Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharatanatyam. She performed in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia. Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many people to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s. She is often equaled to the curvaceous beauty of Indian sculptures. Shobhana has founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam dance in Chennai- kalarpana. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1994, Shobana founded Kalarpana. The aim of Kalarpana is to organize annual festivals throughout India. Shobana is well recognized by her performance in the movie Rudra Veena (Telugu movie, 1988) with Chiranjeevi as a great dancer and Social reformer. This will include performances of nationally and globally known artistes to help raise funds that will be ploughed back into training talented artistes who are financially insecure. Under its umbrella, Kalarpana extend its support to the handicapped and the environmental movement.
In January 2006, the Indian government honored Shobana with the Padma Shri award for her contributions to cinema and Bharatanatyam.
Shobana was born to Dr. Anandam and the late Mr Chandrakumar, who was the brother of the Travancore sisters. She is single and is involved in her dance school as well her creative pursuits full time. Her very close friends from the industry are Revathy, Suhasini and Rohini. Famous actor and renowned dancer Vineeth is related to her.She has a penchant for make up & hairdressing and often tries her hand at hairstyling Kushboo, her co-artist whenever they acted together.