Here's a look at the life and times of J Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa through her long and chequered film and political career has several firsts to her credit

• She was born in Karnataka to a Tamil Iyengar Brahmin Family.
• Fluent in six languages and a school topper, she always aspired to be a lawyer.
• Jayalalithaa acted as a child artist at the age of 13 in a Kannada movie, at the insistence of her mother - an actress herself.
• She did her first film at 15. Her debut movie, Chinnada Gombe (Golden Doll)  was in Kannada, and  was a big blockbuster.
• She acted in 140 movies mainly in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, about 119 of them have been declared to be hits.
• Her last movie was in Telugu in 1980.
• Her last onscreen movie appearance was a cameo role as Chief Miniter in a Tamil Movie in 1992
• She entered politics in 1982 when her mentor, co-star and former CM M G Ramachandran launched AIADMK
• Jayalalithaa was a member of Rajya Sabha between 1984 to 1989
• Jayalalithaa was also the youngest chief minister of Tamil Nadu; when she was sworn in for her first term at age of 43 in 1991
• She was the first woman CM of the state of Tamil Nadu to complete a full term in office
• Jayalalithaa was also popular by the name of Amma (mother) and Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) by partymen and as Ammu by her family.  
• She was the first CM in the country to be disqualified and who had to step down from the post following a court verdict due to the disproportionate assets case.
• She sworn in as Tamil Nadu's CM for five times (including 2 separate instances when in-between she had to step down because of legal reasons but only to came back)
• The attack on her in the state assembly by DMK members on 25 March 1989, was seen as the turning point for her political career.  
• The low point in her political career was when she lost her Bargur seat in the anti-AIADMK wave of 1996
• Estranged from her immediate family including an only brother (who died in 1995) and his family, apart from a public disowning of  foster son V Sudhakaran, her only confidant has been long time aide Sashikala Natarajan, who has also on occasion been exiled from her favour and party.  
• Her political apogee was when she beat back anti-incumbency to storm back to power again in 2016.