Aditi Rao Hydari was born on 28 October 1986 into two royal lineages, that of Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari and J. Rameshwar Rao of erstwhile Raja of Wanaparthy family. She is the great granddaughter of Akbar Hydari and the grand niece of Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, former Governor of Assam.
She did her schooling at Rishi Valley School, near Bangalore and graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.
A classical bharatanatyam dancer, she made her acting debut in the Malayalam film Prajapathi (2006) and rose to fame after her performance in Sudhir Mishra"s 2011 film Yeh Saali Zindagi. Her maternal grandparents are Raja J Rameshwar Rao, who headed the administration of Wanaparthi state during its day, and Shanta Rameshwar Rao, a much respected educationalist in the city of Hyderabad and is the Chairperson of publishing house Orient Blackswan. Her mother has Mangalorean Konkani roots.
Aditi started learning Bharatanatyam at age six and became a disciple of acclaimed dancer Leela Samson.
Hydari made her acting debut with the 2007 Tamil film Sringaram, in which she enacted the lead character, as a devadasi. The film itself was based on classical dance, being directed by Sharada Ramanathan and produced by Padmini Ravi, two noted bharatanatyam dancers.
Hydari was approached and offered the role, after Ramanathan saw her dance performance at a conference for three days. The film received critical acclaim and fetched several accolades, including three National Film Awards.
Her first film to release in theatres, however, was the 2006 Malayalam film Prajapathi, in which she starred alongside Mammootty.
In 2009, she played a supporting role in Delhi-6, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. In 2011 she also starred in the Bollywood film Rockstar. She has appeared in Airtel 3G advertisement in April 2011 In 2012 she played the female lead in the movie London, Paris, New York opposite Ali Zafar.
With this movie, she made her singing debut by singing two of the songs.
Hydari received mixed reviews for her performance. The film was a commercial failure.
In 2013, she became a part of Mahesh Bhatt"s Murder franchise, when she was cast as Roshni opposite Randeep Hooda in Vishesh Bhatt"s directorial film Murder 3. Hydari received positive reviews for her performance, Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Aditi and Sara are show stoppers.
Both deliver knockout performances," and Roshni Devi of Koimoi stated that "Aditi"s performance is pillar for the film." The film was an average grosser, earning ₹250 million (United States$37 million).
