Vaani Kapoor studied at the Mata Jai Kaur Public School, Delhi, and then earned a bachelor's degree in tourism studies from the Indira Gandhi National Open University. She then did an internship with Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Jaipur, and thereafter worked for a while for ITC Hotels. She then began taking up modelling assignments.

She was then signed up by Yash Raj Films for a three-film contract and made her Hindi film debut with the romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance (2013). The next year, she starred in A Gokul Krishna’s Tamil and Telugu romantic comedy Aaha Kalyanam, a remake of Maneesh Sharma's Hindi film Band Baaja Baaraat (2010).

In 2016, Vaani Kapoor played the lead in the Yash Raj romantic comedy Befikre opposite Ranveer Singh. Though the film set in Paris was directed by YRF boss Aditya Chopra himself and had its lead pair snogging a fair deal, it bombed at the box office.

Vaani Kapoor is currently working in an untitled Siddharth Anand film to be released in 2019. She was chosen for Best Female Debut at the 59th Filmfare Awards, Star Guild Awards, Zee Cine Awards and IIFA Awards for Shuddh Desi Romance.