Shraddha Kapoor was born on March 3, 1987, in Mumbai. She is an Indian actress and singer and the daughter of actor Shakti Kapoor and Shivangi Kolhapure. She also has a younger brother Siddhant Kapoor, who is an actor and a DJ (disc jockey). Shraddha is of Punjabi-Maharashtrian descent. Like her mother, Shraddha Kapoor considers herself predominantly of Marathi origin. She has been brought up by her mother's relatives. Shraddha Kapoor's two aunts, Padmini Kolhapure and Tejaswini Kolhapure, are actors in Bollywood. Shraddha Kapoor did her schooling at the Jamnabai Narsee School and later shifted at the American School of Bombay at the age of 15. She then enrolled in Boston University, USA, to major in Psychology. She has revealed that while a freshman at Boston, she worked at a popular coffee chain as a part-time worker. However, she didn't complete her education, as she was selected to appear in a film, Leena Yadav's Teen Patti. Shraddha Kapoor's first leading role was in teen in Boston drama Luv Ka The End (2011).
At the age of 16, Shraddha Kapoor rejected a film offered by superstar Salman Khan, as she wanted to concentrate on her education and aspired to become a psychologist. The actress is also a trained singer, as her maternal grandfather, the cousin of singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, and her mother are classical singers. The actress made her singing debut in 2014 with the popular song Galliyan from her film Ek Villian. Although her debut film Luv Ka The End did not work at the box office, her performance was appreciated by critics. Shraddha Kapoor was subsequently offered the lead female role in Aurangzeb as a part of her deal with Yash Raj Films. However, she signed on to Vishesh Films' Aashiqui 2 instead, thereby cancelling the three-film contract with YRF.
The actress received good reviews for her film Aashiqui 2, directed by Mohit Suri, in which she played the character of Aarohi Keshav Shirke who becomes a successful playback artiste but loses her lover. She was paired opposite Aditya Roy Kapur in the film. She has also appeared in a guest appearance in the romantic comedy film Gori Tere Pyaar Mein directed by Punit Malhotra. She played the role of the fiancee of Imran Khan's character. Gori Tere Pyaar Mein also starred Kareena Kapoor Khan.
Shraddha Kapoor next reunited with Mohit Suri for the thriller Ek Villain (2014). The film is the story of a hardened criminal (played by Sidharth Malhotra) whose terminally ill wife (played by Kapoor) is brutally murdered by a serial killer played by Riteish Deshmukh. Ek Villian was successful at the box office. Shraddha Kapoor was next seen in Vishal Bhardwaj's fillm Haider in which she played the character of a journalist, and a love interest of the main character of Shahid Kapoor. The film was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet and was set in the Kashmir conflict of 1995. Shraddha played the Ophelia character, a journalist named Arshia. The actress impressed once again with her performance in the film. The film received mostly positive reviews worldwide; however there was some criticism over the depiction of the armed forces.
The other notable works of Shraddha Kapoor include ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (ABCD 2), in which she portrayed the role of a hip hop dancer who competed in an international competition alongside her childhood friend Suresh Mukund played by Varun Dhawan. The film explores the career journey of Suresh and Vernon of the fictitious dance crew, who went on to win the World Dance Championship in Las Vegas. ABCD 2 also stars Prabhu Deva as Vishnu Sir.
Shraddha Kapoor was later seen in action drama Baaghi along with Tiger Shroff, as his love interest. The film was a hit. The actress later featured in a cameo in Ekta Kapoor's superhero action film A Flying Jatt that had Tiger Shroff and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead.
In 2016, Shraddha Kapoor was seen in Rock On 2, a sequel to the 2008 film Rock On! She again sang a few numbers in the film, playing a singer herself. The film also starred Farhan Akhtar, Purab Kohli, Arjun Rampal, Prachi Desai and Shahana Goswami, among others.
Shraddha Kapoor was paired again opposite rumoured ex-beau and Aashiqui 2 co-star Aditya Roy Kapur in OK Jaanu, a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil romantic drama O Kadhal Kanmani (OK Kanmani). The actress was last seen in Half Girlfriend with Arjun Kapoor. The film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Chetan Bhagat. The film was directed by Mohit Suri.
Shraddha Kapoor's next big role is the biopic of Haseena Parkar, the sister of the dreaded terrorist Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar. The film, titled Haseena, stars her brother Siddhanth Kapoor as Dawood and Ankur Bhatia as her husband. The film is directed by Apoorva Lakhia. Watch the trailer of Haseena here!
Other than films, Shraddha Kapoor has launched her own line of clothing for women, named Imara, which is a contemporary rendition of the conventional and it offers a refreshing take on fashion. Shraddha Kapoor is also well known in the fashion circuit for her sense of style. The actress has also ramp walked the Lakme Fashion Week for various fashion designers and has been the cover model for high-profile magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Verve and many more. Recently, the Forbes magazine featured her as one of the most successful Asians under the age of 30. The Indian edition of the magazine featured her in their annual Celebrity 100 list with a total earning of US$1.3 million per year.
Another unknown aspect is Shraddha Kapoor is that she is quite scared of lightning. Her lists of favourite actors include Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan. She is extremely protective about her family. She stated in an interview that she was devastated when her father Shakti Kapoor was named in the casting couch controversy.
Shraddha Kapoor's brother Siddhant Kapoor who made his Bollywood debut with Shootout at Wadala was detained along with 240 youths at a rave party in Mumbai in 2008.