Shefali Shah Biography

This television actress came into limelight specially after her impeccable performance in Ram Gopal Varma's 'Satya'. Born in the year 1972, Shefali is the only daughter of the former RBI employee, Sudhakar Shetty and homeopathy doctor, Shobha Shetty. She did her schooling from Arya Vidya Mandir in Santacruz and used to live in RBI quarters in Santacruz.

Shefali Shah started her acting career through television soaps like 'Raahein', 'Banegi Apni Baat', 'Hasratein', 'Kabhie Kabhie', 'Sea Hawks' and 'Aarohan'. Gradually, she moved towards the silver screen, 'Rangeela' being her debut film, as she performed a cameo in this. Then, she appeared in the critically acclaimed flick 'Satya' in 1998. For her role in this film, she bagged Star Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress category and also received Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. This role instantly earned her acclamation among the masses too. Post this, Shefali featured as Amitabh Bachchan's wife in the film 'Waqt' in the year 2005. This movie was directed by Shefali's husband Vipul Shah. She grabbed praise from the critics for her performance in this film. The internationally acclaimed 'Monsoon Wedding' marked her breakthrough performance in the role of Ria Verma. In 2007, she acted in 'Gandhi My Father'. With this, she started doing more matured roles, as she enacted Kasturba Gandhi in this flick. It grabbed her Best Actress award in Tokyo International Film Festival. 'Black and white' was her film alongside Anil Kapoor in the year 2008. Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'The Last Lear' made her win National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. In Hindi version of a famous Marathi play, "Dhyanimani" by Chandrakant Kulkarni, Shefali took to the stage opposite Kiran Karmarkar. The play was titled as "Bas Itna Sa Khwab".

Shefali was married to the television artist Harsh Chhaya. The couple got separated and she tied the knot with the director Vipul Shah. The couple is having two sons.