Trisha was born to Krishnan and Uma [10] in Chennai (then known as Madras) [4][5][6] into a family, whose Tamil speaking ancestors hailed from the Palakkad region of Kerala.[11] She completed schooling at the Sacred Heart Matriculation School in Church Park, Chennai,[7] and later pursued a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) course at the Ethiraj College for Women (Chennai). She ventured into modelling and appeared in several print and television commercials.[12][13] In 1999, she won the "Miss Salem" beauty pageant, and later the same year, the Miss Madras contest. She had also won the Miss India 2001 pageant's "Beautiful Smile" award.
