Aditi Rao Hydari is an Indian film actress.^[2][3] A classical bharatanatyam dancer, she made her acting debut with Sharada Ramanathan's acclaimed filmSringaram (2007) and rose to fame after her performance in Sudhir Mishra's 2011 film Yeh Saali Zindagi. In 2012 she played the female lead in the movie London, Paris, New York opposite Ali Zafar.^[4] In 2013, she became a part of the Mahesh Bhatt Murder franchise,^[5] when she was cast as Roshni opposite Randeep Hoodain Vishesh Bhatt's directorial film Murder 3.^[5]

Aditi Rao Hydari was born in Hyderabad,^[3] from two royal lineages, that of Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari and J. Rameshwar Rao of erstwhile Raja of Wanaparthy family.^[6] She is the great granddaughter of Akbar Hydari^[5] and the grand niece of Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, former Governor of Assam. Her maternal grandfather and grandmother are Raja J Rameshwar Rao,^[7] who headed the administration of Wanaparthi state during its day, and Shanta Rameshwar Rao,^[7] a much respected educationalist in the city of Hyderabad and is the Chairperson of publishing house Orient Blackswan. She started learningBharatanatyam at age six and she became a disciple of acclaimed dancer Leela Samson.^[3] She did her schooling at Rishi Valley School, near Bangalore. She graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.^[8]

Hydari made her acting debut with the 2007 Tamil film Sringaram, in which she enacted the lead character, as a devadasi.^[3] 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.^[6] The film received critical acclaim and fetched several accolades, including three National Film Awards.^[6] Her first film to release in theatres, however, was the 2006 Malayalam film Prajapathi, in which she starred alongside Mammootty.^[2] In 2009, she essayed a supporting role in Delhi-6, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

In 2011 Hydari appeared in the film Yeh Saali Zindagi, for which she won the screen award.^[9][10] In 2011 she also starred in the Bollywood film Rockstar.^[11] She has appeared in Airtel 3G advertisement in April 2011 ^[12] She starred London, Paris, New York.^[4] With this movie, she made her singing debut by singing two of the songs.^[7] Hydari received mixed reviews for her performance. The film was a commercial failure.

In 2013 Hydari appeared in Vishesh Bhatt's Murder 3 alongside Randeep Hooda and Sara Loren.^[13] Hydari received positive reviews for her performance, Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Aditi and Sara are show stoppers. Both deliver knockout performances,"^[14] and Roshni Devi of Koimoi stated that "Aditi's performance is pillar for the film."^[13] The film was an average grosser, earning 25 crore(US$3.8 million).

Aditi Rao Hydari and Aamir Khan’s wife Kiran Rao are maternal first cousins.^[15] In 2005^[3] and 2009^[2] it was reported that she was married to actor Satyadeep Mishra.^[16][17] While the actor had declined to comment on her marital status in a 2012 interview,^[18] in a 2013 interview she mentioned that they were separated.^[5]