Ashmit Patel was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 13 January 1978 to Amit and Asha Patel. He grew up in Bombay where he attended the Cathedral and John Connon School before moving to the United States for undergraduate studies in business at the University of Texas at Austin.

After receiving his degree in 2000, Patel moved back to Mumbai, as Bombay was by then known, where his sister Ameesha Patel had just found success in her debut film Kaho Naa… Pyar Hai (2000). He enrolled for dance lessons with Feroz Khan and an acting course with Roshan Taneja, which was not intended to enable him to become an actor but to test the waters and see if acting was a viable career option. Soon after, he entered the film industry, not as an actor but as an assistant director to Vikram Bhatt. Ashmit Patel said he wanted “to be more well-versed with what goes into the filmmaking process, from pre-production to post-production.”

Patel worked on four projects with Bhatt – Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), Raaz (2002), Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (2002) and Footpath (2003) – before making his acting debut in Bhatt’s next directorial venture, Inteha (2003). The following year, he appeared in Anurag Basu’s Murder (2004) – a film which was a huge success commercially if not critically.

Patel continued to act in Hindi films over the next decade, appearing in projects like Fight Club: Members Only (2006), Toss (2009), and Jai Ho (2014). He has also appeared in a handful of films in other languages, including the English film Florida Road (2010). Patel also ventured into television in 2010 with the fourth season of the reality show Bigg Boss; he made it to the final stage. He has since hosted the UTV reality show Superdude (2012). “I like those shows where I can be myself,” Patel said about his inclination towards reality shows.

Besides film and television, Patel is passionate about sports and fitness, and used to be a gymnast, a footballer and a rugby player.