Alia Advani (born 31 July 1991), known professionally as Kiara Advani (), is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu language films. After making her acting debut in the comedy film Fugly (2014), she played MS Dhoni's wife in the sports biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). She gained praise for playing a sexually unsatisfied wife in the Netflix anthology film Lust Stories (2018) and played the leading lady in the political thriller Bharat Ane Nenu (2018). Advani received wider attention for starring in the romantic drama Kabir Singh and the comedy drama Good Newwz, two of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2019. She won the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter. This success continued with her roles in the 2021 film Shershaah, for which she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, and the 2022 films Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Jugjugg Jeeyo for which she received Zee Cine Awards for Performer of the Year (Female) and Govinda Naam Mera. Advani is married to her co-star and actor Sidharth Malhotra. Early life and education Advani was born to Jagdeep Advani, a Sindhi Hindu businessman and Genevieve Jaffrey, a teacher whose father was a Muslim from Lucknow and whose mother was a Christian of Scottish, Irish, Portuguese, and Spanish ancestry. Her brother, Mishaal, is a musician.. She is related to several celebrities through her maternal family. Actors Ashok Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey are her step-great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively. Advani attended the Cathedral and John Connon School, and later attended Jai Hind College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications. Born as Alia Advani, she changed her first name to Kiara prior to the release of her first film, Fugly, in 2014. Her choice of the name was inspired from Priyanka Chopra's character Kiara in the film Anjaana Anjaani (2010). She has stated that it was Salman Khan's suggestion to change her name, as Alia Bhatt was already an established actress. Career Early work (2014–2019) Advani began her acting career with the Hindi ensemble comedy film Fugly (2014). Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Kiara Advani catches you completely unaware" and has the "combination of looks and talent". Mehul S Thakkar of Deccan Chronicle found her "very striking" and said that she "shows a lot of promise". Fugly underperformed at the box office. Two years later, Advani appeared in the