Tabu born Tabassum Hashmi Khan on November 4, 1970 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India) is an award-winning Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and American films. She has won the National Film Award for Best Actress twice. She is best known for her critically acclaimed acting in a number of films rather than achieving box office success.

Despite a few exceptions, Tabu is known best for her willingness to play characters in artistic, low-budget films that go on to garner more critical appreciation than they do substantial box office figures such as in Maqbool (2003), Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004) or The Namesake (2007). Known to be selective on her film roles, she has said, "I do films which move me and most of all, the unit and the director should appeal to me