Shamna Kasim, also known by the stage name Poorna, is an Indian film actress, Professional Dancer and model. She is one of the Predominantly Dancer in South Indian Film Industry. She started her career as a classical dancer and got into media when she was participating at the reality-based dance competition Super Dancer on Amrita TV.^[2] She made her acting debut in the 2004 Malayalam film Manju Poloru Penkutty and went on to play minor supporting roles in a couple of unsuccessful films. As Well As She Playing Item Numbers in Movies. She played her first major role in "Pakadai" along with Raj Kiran and 'Taraka Ratna'from NTR family. But this movie was shot in 2006, later it was dropped due to some external factors. Later her debut on Telugu film Sri Mahalakshmi, while playing the lead female character in her first Tamil film, Muniyandi Vilangial Moonramandu.^[3]

She was born as the youngest of five children in a Muslim family to Kassim and Ramla Beevi on 23 May 1989 at Kannur, Kerala. She is Muslim by Birth, She did her high school studies from Ursuline Senior Secondary School, Kannur and later moved to St. Teresas, Kannur to concentrate more on her dancing skills. She has four siblings: Sheriffa, Arifa, Shanavas and Shaina. She has completed a Bachelor of Arts in English by correspondence.^[4] Currently she resides at Kochi, Kerala.^[1] She is a dancer in all types of stage shows. She has mentioned in the recent interview in John Brittas Show that her godfather in Malayalam movies at early stages of her career was Mohanlal. She also said her worries about less chances she is now getting in Malayalam movies compared to that of Tamil and Telugu Movie Industry.

In the mid 2010s, Poorna appeared in a series of films where she portrayed a ghost, with The Hindu labelling her as "the ghost queen of Telugu films".^[5] She won critical acclaim for her roles in Avunu (2012) and the sequel Avunu 2 (2015), which led to film makers wanting to cast her in horror films. She turned down several similar scripts, before winning further acclaim for her role as a ghost in Raju Garu Gadhi (2015), which became a surprise sleeper hit at the box office.^[5] She is so dedicated to her work that she shaved her head for her role in the movie Kodiveeran (2017) but the movie did not receive a good response from the audience.