Richa Chadda made her Hindi film debut with a minor role in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), and with her stellar performance, it was clear that she was an actress who is here to stay. The film and theatre actress was born in Amritsar and brought up in Delhi by her parents, her father who was a management firm owner and her mother who was a renowned professor at the University of Delhi. Chadda is known for her independent and outspoken nature, and as an avid reader. After completing her schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from St Stephen's College, New Delhi. She is also a Post Graduate Diploma holder in Social Communications Media from Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai. Chadda began her career as a model, and then moved to theatre performing plays all over India and Pakistan. She acquired training from the famous Barry John and first appeared on the silver screen with Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008).

Renowned director Anurag Kashyap then cast her in his movies Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 (2012) and Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2 (2012) in a significant role. She played the role of a woman who sees life from the age of 16 to 60 years of age, and showed great versatility in her portrayal. Her fiery performance in the movie was appreciated by all. It won her the Filmfare Critics’ Award for the Best Actress. The movie was also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

After this, Chadda was seen in many films including Anurag Kashyap’s anthology film Shorts (2013). Famed director Sanjay Leela Bhansali also cast her in his film Goliyoon ki Rasleela Ram Leela (2013) in a supporting role. She was nominated for the IIFA Awards for the Best Supporting Actress for this role. She also played a feisty woman gangster in Fukrey (2013), and won the Screen Weekly Awards for the Best Performance in a Comic Role.

Chadda’s promising career took many turns and the next year, she landed in a Mexican-American anthology film Words with Gods (2014) directed by Mira Nair. She also featured in Anil Kapoor’s TV series 24 (2014).

She gained further popularity and acclaim with her portrayal of the character Devi in Masaan (2015). Considered to be one of her best performances to date, she perfectly captured the poignant yet hopeful story arc of her character.

Her last appearance on screen was in a cameo role in the film Chalk N Duster (2016). She has many more films in the pipeline and is expected to work with several interesting projects, living up to her reputation as an unconventional and talented actress.