Twinkle Khanna, born on 29 December 1973, is an Indian author, columnist and former actress. She has published the non-fiction collection Mrs Funnybones (2015), the short story collection The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad (2016), the novel Pyjamas Are Forgiving (2018), the short story collection Welcome to Paradise (2023) and Mrs Funnybones Returns (2025), a sequel to her first book. In 2019 she founded Tweak India, a bilingual digital media platform aimed at women, and she holds a master’s degree in fiction writing from Goldsmiths, University of London.
She was born in Bombay, the elder of two daughters of the actors Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna, with whom she shared her birthday. Her maternal grandfather, Chunnibhai Kapadia, was a businessman. Her mother is Gujarati and her father, from Amritsar, came from a family of railway contractors. She is the niece of the actress and costume designer Simple Kapadia, and her sister, Rinke Khanna, and cousin Karan Kapadia have also acted in films. She has said that she did not experience patriarchy growing up alongside her sister.
She attended New Era High School in Panchgani and the Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics in Vile Parle. After her Class 12 she wanted to become a chartered accountant and took the entrance examination, but joined films because her parents insisted. She later completed her Master of Arts at Goldsmiths in London, graduating in 2024.
She made her screen debut opposite Bobby Deol in Rajkumar Santoshi’s musical romance Barsaat (1995), cast by Dharmendra. It became the sixth-highest-grossing film of the year and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. In 1996 she led Jaan (opposite Ajay Devgn), a hit, and Dil Tera Diwana (opposite Saif Ali Khan). Her only release in 1998 was Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai, as Salman Khan’s love interest, a box-office success. She acted with Akshay Kumar in International Khiladi and Zulmi (both 1999) and led Baadshah (1999) with Shah Rukh Khan, and appeared in the Telugu film Seenu (1999) and in Mela (2000) with Aamir Khan.
The director Karan Johar said in an interview that she was in his mind for the role of Tina in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but she refused it. She left the industry after marrying Akshay Kumar in 2001, saying she no longer enjoyed acting. Her last film was Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (2001).
Off-screen she took part in the Awesome Foursome concert in Malaysia and the Magnificent Five concert in Birmingham in 1999, was a judge at Femina Miss India in 2000 and made her theatre debut in Feroz Khan’s All The Best in 2001. In 2002 she opened an interior design store, The White Window, at Crawford Market in Mumbai with her friend Gurlein Manchanda; it has won an Elle Decor International Design Award. She has no professional degree in design and learned by working with an architect for two years. She designed interiors for the actresses Rani Mukerji, Reemma Sen and Tabu and for Kareena Kapoor’s Bandra flat in 2008.
She later wrote newspaper columns, collected in her first book. In 2025 she co-hosted the Amazon Prime Video talk show Two Much with Kajol and Twinkle with the actress Kajol, which Prime Video reported as its most-watched unscripted Indian original series. She is married to the actor Akshay Kumar, and they have two children.
Featured image: Books in a library reading room (file photo, 2014; Twinkle Khanna is an author of several books, and this is not a photo of her). Photo by Sumitsurai, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
