Fatima Sana Shaikh was born on 11 January 1992 born and brought up in Mumbai. Her mother, Raj Tabassum, is from Srinagar, and her father, Vipin Sharma, is from Jammu.[5] While her father was raised as Hindu and her mother a Muslim, Shaikh identifies as an atheist.[6] She had received experience in photography prior to becoming an actress.[7]
The actress has opened up about her personal experiences of living with epilepsy to help raise awareness of the neurological condition.[8][9]
Career
Shaikh began her career as a child artist in Chachi 420 and One 2 Ka 4.[3] Years later, she played Zoya in the Indian drama film Tahaan, which received "The German Star of India award" at "Bollywood and Beyond" festival at Stuttgart, Germany in 2009.[10]
Shaikh was selected for Nitesh Tiwari's biographical sports film Dangal along with Sanya Malhotra, who had never acted before. Shaikh was chosen to portray Geeta Phogat.[11] To prepare for her role, she watched several videos on wrestling to understand "how wrestlers move, walk, their body language".[11] Both Malhotra and Shaikh went through five rounds of auditions, physical training and workshops with Tiwari and Aamir Khan.[7] They were trained by coach and former wrestler Kripa Shankar Patel Bishnoi.[7] Released in 2016, Dangal received critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing Indian film ever with earnings of more than ₹2,000 crore (US$240 million) worldwide.[12]
^Interview With Fatima Sana Shaikh for 'Suraj Pe Mangal Bhaari' And 'Ludo' | The Quint (in Hindi and English). The Quint. 27 October 2020. Event occurs at 08:55. Retrieved 23 February 2021. I am an atheist. I have a mother who is Muslim, I have a father who is Hindu. My brother and myself, we are atheist. We do not follow any religion, we do not follow any god.
^ abcRathi, Vasundhara (20 December 2016). "Braving the bruises". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 September 2018.