Zaira Wasim

Wasim was born on 23 October 2000 in the Downtown neighbourhood of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India into a Kashmiri Muslim family to parents Zahid and Zarqa Wasim. Her father worked as an executive manager at J&K Bank in Srinagar and her mother is a teacher. She completed tenth grade from St. Paul's International Academy in Sonwar, Srinagar.In June 2015, Wasim was signed by director Nitesh Tiwari to make her film debut with the biographical sports film Dangal (2016). Principal photography of the film began in September 2015 and she finished her part in December the same year. The film, which narrated the story of pehlwani amateur wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan) who trains his two daughters Geeta (Wasim) and Babita (Suhani Bhatnagar) to become India's first world class female wrestlers, received positive reviews from critics and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, earning more than ₹20 billion ($300 million) worldwide. For her performance, Wasim received positive comments as well as several awards, including the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

The following year, Wasim found her breakthrough role in Advait Chandan's directorial debut Secret Superstar (2017), a musical drama about the story of Insia Malik (Wasim), a 15-year-old teenager who aspires to be a singer. Co-starring with Aamir Khan, Meher Vij, and Raj Arjun, Wasim garnered critical acclaim for her performance and the film eventually emerged as her second consecutive release to earn over ₹9 billion (US$110 million) worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing Indian film (after Dangal and the 2015 film Bajrangi Bhaijaan) and the highest-grossing Indian film featuring a female protagonist. In addition to several other accolades for the film, Wasim won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) and received her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In November 2017, politician Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, honoured her with the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement, for her performances in both Dangal and Secret Superstar.

As of March 2019, Wasim has completed shooting for her next film The Sky Is Pink, the biopic of motivational speaker Aisha Chaudhary, a 19-year-old girl who died from pulmonary fibrosis. Co-starring Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar, the film was released in India on 11 October 2019 to critical acclaim, earning her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.