Tigmanshu Dhulia is a director, producer, dialogue writer, screenwriter, actor and casting director. He has worked in both Hindi cinema and Indian television. Dhulia's father was secretary of the Students' Federation of India, student wing of the Communist Party of India. He later went on to become a judge of the Allahabad high court.

Dhulia's mother was a professor of Sanskrit. He has two older brothers, one of whom is in the navy while the other is a member of the judiciary.

Dhulia studied at Allahabad’s St Joseph's College, Anglo-Bengali Intermediate College and Allahabad University. He then pursued a master’s degree in theatre at the National School of Drama, New Delhi.

After his post-graduation, Dhulia moved to Bombay. He was an assistant director for Pradip Kishen’s Electric Moon (1992) and Ketan Mehta’s Sardar (1993). He became the casting director for Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen (1994), a biographical film based on the life of Phoolan Devi. He was also the casting director for Stiff Upper Lips (1995) and The Warrior (2000).

Dhulia is known for his dialogues for the romantic thriller Dil Se… (1998) starring Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala and Preity Zinta.

He made his directorial debut with Haasil (2003), which he also wrote, and for which he won the Zee Cine award for Best Screenplay. His second film as director was the thriller Charas: A Joint Operation (2004).

In 2011, Dhulia directed the crime action thriller Shagird starring Nana Patekar. The same year, he also made Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster, which became a hit and has since turned into a franchise with the third part, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3, due later this year.

Dhulia also gained immense recognition for his biographical film Paan Singh Tomar (2012), one of the early movers in the current rash of biopics in Hindi cinema, which he wrote as well as directed.

The same year, Dhulia's turn as Ramadhir Singh in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs Of Wasseypur films (2012) brought a new facet of the artiste to the fore. His performance in the films with several superb artistes was highly appreciated.

Next, Dhulia directed, produced and acted in the film Bullett Raja (2013). He teamed up again with Nawazuddin Siddiqui after Gangs Of Wasseypur for Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015), in which he played the mukhiya (landlord).

Dhulia has also produced and directed the six-part Krishna's Dream (1993) for UK’s Channel 4. He is also known for the television shows Kahani Ek Kanya Ki (1991), Hum Bambai Nahin Jayenge (1993), Naya Daur (1995) and Just Mohabbat (1996). He gained popularity with the series Star Bestsellers (1999), which comprised a sequence of six 45-minute short stories. His next television ventures were Woh Dus Din (2005) and Ek Duje Ke Liye (2005). He also directed the show Rajdhani starring Neha Dhupia, Lushin Dubey and Randeep Hooda.

Paan Singh Tomar won the National award for Best Feature Film, the Filmfare award for Best Screenplay and the Best Director award at the SAARC Film Festival. Dhulia also won the Stardust award for Best Director for Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster.

The filmmaker is also on the advisory board of the Kautik International Student Film Festival.