Ayesha Takia is an Indian film actress. She grew up in Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra. She comes from a mixed family. Her father Nishit, is Gujarati, and her mother is half British and half Maharashtrian - an Anglo-Indian Muslim named Faridah Takia went to St. Anthony's High School. She said in interviews that she grew up speaking English at home and had to learn Hindi and Telugu for her film roles. Her dad interacts with her producers and handles her dates. She has a younger sister named Natasha. Ayesha's favorite actors from childhood are Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Her favorite actresses are Sridevi and Rani Mukherji.She finds that there are many good directors but she has always liked Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

She appeared in the famous I'm a Complan Boy! I'm a Complan Girl! campaign alongside Shahid Kapoor and also in a music video, Falguni Pathak's Meri Chunar Udd Udd Jaye, when she was fifteen. She then appeared in the video, Shake It Daddy, when she was sixteen, which brought her to the attention of the movie industry, and a few film offers followed. She signed a contract for Socha Na Tha, then for Taarzan: The Wonder Car. However, delays in making Socha Na Tha meant that Taarzan released first and was therefore her "debut" film.

She won the Filmfare Best Debut Award in 2004 for her performance in Taarzan. She has appeared in a number of films that have done poorly at the box office. However, she has been highly praised for her work in the 2006 Dor, a smaller budget film in which she plays the role of a young widowed Rajasthani woman living in a traditional joint family. She went on to win a Zee Cine Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film Dor.

 

On March 1, 2009 Takia got married to Farhan Azmi, a restaurateur by profession and the son of Muslim Abu Azmi who is a Samajwadi Party leader. The couple were supposed to get married in December 2008 but the wedding got delayed due to the Mumbai attacks.