The gorgeous and charming Yami Gautam began her career in show business with a number of TV commercials. She soon became a familiar face and appeared in a number of TV series, including Raajkumar Aryyan, Chand Ke Paar Chalo (both on NDTV Imagine) and Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam (Colors).
Yami Gautam's small-screen ventures eventually led to her debut Kannada film Ullasa Utsaha (2009). She got positive reviews despite the film's failure at the box office. In 2012, she starred in the Punjabi movie Ek Noor, the Telugu Nuvvila and the Malayalam Hero.

That was also the year she got her break in Hindi cinema with Vicky Donor, a small-budget film by Shoojit Sircar that got commercial as well as critical appreciation for its innovative plot revolving around a sperm donor. Yami played a young Bengali woman and her fresh appearance and dedicated performance were liked.

In 2013, Yami starred in the Tamil movie Gouravam and the Telugu movie Yuddham. She went on to play prominent roles in Prabhudeva’s Action Jackson (2014), the romantic comedy Total Siyapaa (2014) and the thriller Badlapur (2015). She co-starred with Nitin in the Telugu romantic thriller film Courier Boy Kalyan in 2015.

In 2016, Yami starred in three movies — Sanam Re and Junooniyat in Hindi and action comedy Tamilselvanum Thaniyar Anjalum in Tamil.

In 2017, she played the lead in Sanjay Gupta’s action thriller Kaabil opposite Hrithik Roshan. The movie was a love story of two blind people. In the same year, she featured in Ram Gopal Varma's flop political crime thriller Sarkar 3. Her latest appearance was in the 2018 movie Batti Gul Meter Chalu in which she played advocate Gulnaar Rizvi.

Yami Gautam is or has been brand ambassador for some leading brands like Fair & Lovely, Cornetto, Samsung Mobile and Chevrolet. She was a contestant in Meethi Choori No 1 (Imagine TV) and Kitchen Champion Season 1 (Colors). She has won the BIG Star Entertainment award for Most Entertaining Actor (Film) Debut Female (2012), the Zee Cine award for Best Female Debut (2013) and the IIFA Awards Star Debut of the Year Female (2013).

Born in Himachal Pradesh, Yami Gautam was brought up in Chandigarh. She is the daughter of Punjabi film director Mukesh Gautam and Anjali Gautam. Her sister, Surilie Gautam, is also an actress. Yami was pursuing a degree in law but left to pursue her dream of acting. She later enrolled for part-time graduation in Mumbai.