Nilam Farooq is the daughter of a Pakistani father and a Polish mother, and she has a younger brother.

She was born in Berlin and grew up in the Wilmersdorf district,[1] where she attended the local Goethe-Gymnasium and completed her Abitur.

In addition to German, she is fluent in Polish and English, and has language credentials in Latin and Ancient Greek.

From 2013 to 2019 Farooq was regularly seen in the television series Leipzig Homicide as Commissioner Olivia Fareedi.

[3] She has since played roles in various TV films and series, for example in Tatort: Roomservice [4] or Polizeiruf 110: Grenzgänger.