Manisha Koirala is a renowned Indian film actress hailing from Nepal, who was one of the most prominent figures in Hindi cinema during the 1990s. She made her Hindi film debut with Subhash Ghai's blockbuster hit, Saudagar (1988) and has since worked in other regional films for three decades in various languages- Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam, besides doing some Nepalese cinema. Koirala made her mark primarily in the 1990s when she worked in a number of critically acclaimed films such as Bombay (1995), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), Agneesakshi (1996), 1942: A Love Story (1994), Dil Se (1998) and Company (2002).

Born in the illustrious political family of the Koiralas from Nepal, Manisha was born in Kathmandu to Prakash Koirala and Sushma Koirala but received her school education at Vasant Kanya Mahavidhyalaya (VKM) in Varanasi and Army Public School, Delhi. It was during this time that Koirala ventured into modelling. Her first film was a Nepali film, Pheri Bhetaula (1989). But it was her Hindi film debut, Saudagar (1988) that catapulted her to stardom. The film was followed by a series of flops like Yalgaar (1992), Anmol (1993), Dhanwan (1993) and Yun Hi Kabhi (1994).  

Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942: A Love Story (1994) broke her streak of flops and resurrected her film career. What followed were a series of critically acclaimed roles as well as commercial success with films like Bombay (1995) and Agni Sakshi (1996). Agni Sakshi (1996) and Gupt (1997) established her as one of the most sought-after actresses in Indian cinema of the time. She won two Filmfare Awards for her performance in Bombay (1995). During this period, Koirala worked across various film industries within India and worked in hits with Tamil film superstars, Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth in Indian (1996) and Baba (2002).

In the 2000s, Koirala worked in another spate of well-received films like Lajja (2001) and Company (2002) but besides these, most of her films during the decade did not gain any commercial success. Koirala then starred in S K Nair's Ek Choti Si Love Story (2002), which was an adaptation of Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's A Short Film About Love (1988). Surrounded by controversy regarding sexually explicit scenes in the film that were shot using Koirala's body double, the film became a box office hit, but Koirala dragged Nair to court for unfairly using her body double without permission.

After a series of low budget films, Koirala returned to regional cinema and worked on the critically acclaimed Tamil film Mappillai (2011) and was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting actress in the South.

Besides her career in film, she is also engaged in social work, and was appointed as the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.

In 2010, Koirala married Samrat Dahal. The couple ended up getting a divorce in 2012. In the same year it was reported that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was in recovery post her medical treatment. She recently starred in Chehere: A Modern Day Classic (2015) after a short break from acting.