Yami Gautam

Yami Gautam was born in a Himachali family in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh and was brought up in Chandigarh. Her father Mukesh Gautam is a Punjabi film director. Her mother is Anjali Gautam. Yami has a sister Surilie Gautam, who made her big screen debut with the Punjabi film Power Cut. She did her regular schooling, and later entered college to pursue a graduate degree in law honours. She had aspired to join Indian Administrative Services (IAS) as a young girl, but at the age of 20, Yami decided to start her acting career. Though she was pursuing studies in Law Honors (first-year PU Student of law), she left full-time studies for acting. Recently, she has been doing her part-time graduation from Mumbai. Yami is fond of reading, interior decoration and listening to music.

Gautam was twenty when she moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in movies. She made her television debut with Chand Ke Paar Chalo, which was followed by Raajkumar Aaryyan. Following this, she played her most notable role in Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam, which aired on Colors. Furthermore, she participated in the reality shows Meethi Choori No 1 and Kitchen Champion Season 1.

Film career (2010–present)

Gautam made her film debut in the Kannada film Ullasa Utsaha. Though the film failed at the box office, Gautam received positive reviews for her performance.

Gautam later made her Bollywood debut with Vicky Donor, in which she starred opposite Ayushmann Khurrana. She played the role of the Bengali girl Ashima Roy, a girl who falls in love with a Punjabi boy with a past. Despite its small budget, the movie became a major commercial success and received critical appreciation.

Yami Gautam with Ajay Devgn during trailer launch of their film Action Jackson (2014).

Gautam received appreciation for her performance. Taran Adarsh writes: "Yami Gautam makes an imposing debut. She adds enormous value to the movie by her act, screen presence and striking looks. She's truly admirable towards the latter part of the film." Madhureeta Mukherjee adds that Gautam "is a sheer delight to watch, emoting effortlessly." She made her Telugu debut with the 2011 film Nuvvila, directed by Ravi Babu. She signed for her second film in Kollywood with Tamilselvanum Thaniyar Anjalum opposite Jai. Her second Hindi film was Eeshwar Nivas's Total Siyappa, opposite Ali Zafar, produced by Reliance Entertainment and Neeraj Pandey, which was released in 2014.

Gautam has completed filming for Prabhu Deva's Action Jackson opposite Ajay Devgan and for Sriram Raghavan's Badlapur opposite Varun Dhawan. Apart from those, she is busy in shooting the Tamil film Tamilselvanum Thaniyar Anjalum and a Telugu film Courier Boy Kalyan. In 2016, she acted in Divya Khosla Kumar's romantic film Sanam Re.

She also acted in the romantic film Junooniyat. In February 2016, she signed Sanjay Gupta's revenge drama Kaabil, produced by Rakesh Roshan, in which she co-starred opposite Hrithik Roshan. The film which released in January 2017 received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success.

In October 2016, she signed Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar 3, which is the third part of his Sarkar series. She stated that 'Sarker 3' was a great opportunity for her as a performer.

In January 2018, she signed Batti Gul Meter Chalu starring along Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor.

Brand endorsements

Her brand endorsements include Fair & Lovely, Cornetto, Samsung Mobile, Chevrolet, and many other brands.

Other honours

• 2013: iTimes's No. 12 Most Desirable Woman of 2012.