Shefali Shah
Shefali Shah
20.07.1972 (51 years) (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Shefali Shah (born Shefali Shetty on 22 May 1973) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Respected for her acting prowess, she works primarily in independent Hindi films and has received local and foreign accolades for her performances. Shah's acting career started on the Gujarati stage before she debuted on television in 1993. After small parts on television and a brief stint with cinema in Rangeela (1995), she gained wider recognition in 1997 for her role in the popular series Hasratein. This was followed by lead roles in the TV series Adhikar (1997), Kabhie Kabhie (1997) and Raahein (1999). A supporting role in the crime film Satya (1998) won her positive notice and a Filmfare Critics Award, and she soon shifted her focus to film acting starting with a lead role in the Gujarati drama Dariya Chhoru (1999). Unwilling to compromise her artistic convictions, Shah was selective about her roles through the following decades. This resulted in intermittent film work, mostly in character parts and often to appreciation from critics. She appeared in the international co-production Monsoon Wedding (2001) and the mainstream comedy-drama Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005). In 2007, her portrayal of Kasturba Gandhi in the biographical drama Gandhi, My Father won her the Best Actress prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and she received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the drama film The Last Lear. Among her subsequent film roles, she played a leading part in Kucch Luv Jaisaa (2011) and was noted for her work in the social problem film Lakshmi (2014) and the ensemble drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015). Shah's career surged upward in the late 2010s as she transitioned to leading roles. She won a Filmfare Short Film Award for her performance in Juice (2017) and followed with two Netflix projects: the romantic drama Once Again (2018) and the International Emmy Award-winning crime miniseries Delhi Crime (2019). Her performance as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi in the latter met with widespread acclaim. Shah wrote and directed two self-starring COVID-19-themed short films in 2020: Someday and Happy Birthday Mummyji, and led the segment "Ankahi" in the anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans (2021). Four 2022 projects, including the Disney+ Hotstar webseries Human, the feature dramas Jalsa and Darlings, as well as the second season of Delhi Crime, brought Shah further recognition.