Yami Gautam Dhar, born on 28 November 1988, is an Indian actress who mostly works in Hindi films and is known for her performances in content-driven films. Her accolades include a National Film Award, two Screen Awards and a Zee Cine Award, along with three Filmfare nominations. The National Film Award for Best Actress came for the political thriller Article 370 (2024), and she has since drawn critical acclaim for playing Shah Bano in Haq (2025). She is married to the filmmaker Aditya Dhar.
She was born in a Hindu Brahmin family in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, and brought up in Chandigarh. Her father, Mukesh Gautam, is a Punjabi film director and the chief adviser of the PTC Network, and her mother is Anjali Gautam. She has a younger sister, Surilie Gautam, who made her debut in the Punjabi film Power Cut, and a younger brother, Ojas. She has described a disciplined and academically inclined upbringing, away from the glamour of cinema despite her father’s profession.
She studied law honours and had wanted to join the Indian Administrative Service as a girl, but at 20 she decided to act. She left full-time studies and moved to Mumbai, and she has since been doing a part-time degree in Mumbai. She began in television with Chand Ke Paar Chalo (2008–2009), played the lead in Raajkumar Aaryyan and gained wider recognition in Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam (2009–2010) on Colors. She also took part in the reality shows Meethi Choori No 1 and Kitchen Champion.
Her film debut was the Kannada film Ullasa Utsaha (2010). Her Hindi debut was Shoojit Sircar’s comedy-drama Vicky Donor (2012), co-starring Ayushmann Khurrana, in which she played the Bengali woman Ashima Roy. The film was a major commercial success, grossing Rs 645 million, and won her the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut and a Filmfare nomination in the same category. After a two-year absence from Hindi cinema she returned in 2014 with Total Siyappa and Action Jackson, both of which underperformed.
Her supporting roles in the thriller Badlapur (2015), which earned over Rs 770 million worldwide, and Kaabil (2017), opposite Hrithik Roshan, which earned about Rs 1.96 billion, were well received, while Sanam Re and Junooniyat (both 2016) and Sarkar 3 (2017) did not do well. Batti Gul Meter Chalu (2018) cast her as a lawyer alongside Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor.
Her breakthrough came in 2019 as the intelligence officer Pallavi Sharma in Aditya Dhar’s military action thriller Uri: The Surgical Strike, opposite Vicky Kaushal, a critical and commercial success. She then reunited with Ayushmann Khurrana in the satire Bala, where she was widely praised as the ditsy influencer Pari Mishra. She starred in the streaming films Bhoot Police (2021), A Thursday (2022), Dasvi (2022) and Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (2023), and had further commercial success with OMG 2 (2023) and Article 370 (2024).
She has served as a brand ambassador for several products. Her career, from television serials to a National Film Award, has been built mostly on films that rely on story over scale.
Featured image: Gobind Sagar reservoir at Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, where Yami Gautam was born (file photo, 2023; not a photo of Yami Gautam). Photo by Ms Sarah Welch, licensed under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
