Shriya Pilgaonkar

Shriya Pilgaonkar (born 25 April 1989 ) is an Indian actress, director, producer who primarily works in Hindi films and web shows.

Pilgaonkar was born on 25 April 1989 in Mumbai and is the only child of famed actors Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar.

As a child, Pilgaonkar trained to become a professional swimmer and won several medals while in school.

Believing that she might become a translator or a linguist when she grew up, Pilgaonkar also took classes in Japanese when she was a child.

Later deciding to take a different route, Pilgaonkar completed her bachelor's degree in Sociology at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai.

Pilgaonkar also learned Kathak as a child.

At the age of five, Pilgaonkar first appeared on television in the Hindi serial Tu Tu Main Main, playing a boy named Bittu.

Pilgaonkar made her stage debut in 2012 with her performance in Karan Shetty's 10-minute short play Freedom Of Love.

The play was a part of the NCPA's Short and Sweet Festival.

In the play, she acted, sang, and danced.

Born to actors Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar, she made her acting debut with the Marathi film Ekulti Ek (2013) for which she won the Best Debut Actress at the Maharashtra State Film Awards.

Pilgaonkar made her big screen debut with the 2013 Marathi film Ekulti Ek. In the film, she plays the role of Swara.

She was offered the role of Swara by her father (Sachin Pilgaonkar) who wrote, directed, and produced the film.

Pilgaonkar said, "He has been credited for launching many a talent, including my mother. When he offered me the film, I didn't want a favour. But he corrected me, saying, 'I am not stupid to invest resources without reason'."

This movie led her to win many awards, including Maharashtra State Film Award for Best Debut Actress.

A critic of The Times of India stated, "It's the perfect launch for his (Sachin Pilgaonkar) daughter Shriya into films and she does not disappoint."

Following her role in Ekulti Ek, she starred in plays, Internal Affairs and Common People.

She then worked in the French film Un plus une, helmed by Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch.

In the film, she played the role of Ayanna, an Indian dancer, and actor.

Post her Hindi film debut with Fan (2016), Pilgaonkar went onto establish herself with successful web series such as Mirzapur (2018), Guilty Minds, The Broken News both (2022) and Taaza Khabar (2023).

For Guilty Minds, she received the Best Actress - Drama Series nomination at Filmfare OTT Awards.

In addition to this, she has been part of various plays and has also directed few of them.

Pilgaonkar made her Bollywood debut in the 2016 film Fan.

Pilgaonkar was selected for her role from the audition of 750 girls conducted by Maneesh Sharma, and she considered getting a role alongside Shah Rukh Khan a big breakthrough.

In the film, she plays the role of Neha, a Delhi-based call center girl, and Gaurav's friend.

After the release of Fan, Pilgaonkar was overwhelmed by the response.

Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama termed her "wonderful".

Pilgaonkar played a strong and independent woman Sweety Gupta opposite Ali Fazal, in the series Mirzapur.

Saraswati Datar of The News Minute noted, "Shriya as Sweety put in a great performance, but her role is woefully underwritten and unidimensional."

The series was a massive success, and became a breakthrough for her, however she later confirmed that her character wouldn't be returning after the first season.

In 2019, she did the film House Arrest with Fazal.

In 2020, she first played Nimmo alongside Sunny Kaushal in Bhangra Paa Le, which received negative reviews.

In the same year, she played a social media influencer, Suhani in the first season of The Gone Game and a RAW agent Divya in Crackdown.

She received positive response for both the series, and India Today stated that she "impresses" as Divya aka Mariam.

Her only work in 2021, was the bilingual film Kaadan.

Pilgaonkar had four web releases in 2022.

She first played Advocate Kashaf in Guilty Minds, alongside Varun Mitra, which won her critical acclaim.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV stated, "Shriya Pilgaonkar is mesmerising as the honest-to-a-fault advocate."

She then appeared in the second season of The Gone Game and hosted the web reality show, The Great Indian Bride.

In her final role of the year, she played an investigative journalist Radha in The Broken News.