Sameera Reddy was born on 14 December 1978 in Bombay (present day Mumbai), Maharashtra[2] to a Telugu father and a Mangalorean Konkani mother.

Reddy described herself as a "tomboy" and "the ugly duckling in the family", while citing: "I was plump, had glasses and my glam quotient was rather low till I was 19.

"[10] Reddy first appeared in ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas's "Aur Aahista" music video in 1997.

[11] She was meant to make her debut as an actress in Saravana Subbiah's Tamil film Citizen, during the early 2000s, but eventually did not feature.

[12] She caught the attention of Bollywood and was cast in a pivotal role in the 2002 Hindi film Maine Dil Tujhko Diya.