She won Nandi Award presented by the government of Andhra Pradesh very early in her career. She completed her graduation in Bachelor of Arts. She later started pursuing her acting career. She has done her schooling in Hyderabad, and while in college has won the Miss College Pageant. She is the third among the three sisters. Her parents are Sri Mamilla Venkateswar Rao and Smt Mamilla Kusuma Kumari. Popularly known as Priya, Mamilla Shailaja Priya was born in 1978 in Bapatla town in Andhra Pradesh, India.
