Devoleena Bhattacharjee

Bhattacharjee was born on 22 August 1985 to a Bengali family in Sivasagar, Assam.^[5][6] She did her schooling from Godhula Brown Memorial English High School in Sivasagar, Assam and her higher studies from the National Institute of Fashion and Technology in New Delhi, India.^{[citation needed]} Bhattacharjee married her gym trainer, Shanwaz Shaikh, on 14 December 2022.^[7] The couple welcomed their first child, a boy, on 18 December 2024. She lives in Gurugram with her mother and her younger brother.^[8]

A trained Bharatnatyam dancer, Bhattacharjee initially worked as a jewellery designer in Gili India Ltd. in Mumbai and was first noticed when she auditioned for dance reality series Dance India Dance 2.^[9] Her acting debut through NDTV Imagine's Sawaare Sabke Sapne Preeto occurred in 2011.^[10]

In June 2012, Bhattacharjee replaced Giaa Manek as the female lead Gopi Ahem Modi in Star Plus's Saath Nibhaana Saathiya which turned out to be her breakthrough.^[11] In 2014 and in 2016, she contemplated quitting the show due to the frequent time leaps,^[12][13] but continued the character before completing 5 years in June 2017.^[14] The same month, she underwent spinal surgery for an injury that took place on the show's set in 2013.^[15] Saath Nibhaana Saathiya ended on 23 July 2017.^[16]

Bhattacharjee next joined as a celebrity contestant in 13th season of the reality TV show Bigg Boss that started in the last week of September 2019.^[17][18] However two months later in November 2019, she exited the show citing medical issues.^[19]

In August 2020, it was announced that Bhattacharjee will reprise the role of Gopi Modi in the sequel of Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, entitled Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2 that begun airing on 19 October 2020. She was seen in the first 31 episodes with the last episode was telecasted on 23 November 2020.

She entered Bigg Boss 14 as a proxy contestant for Eijaz Khan. She also later entered Bigg Boss 15 as a wild card contestant, thus making history for appearing as contestant in 3 different seasons of Bigg Boss alongside Rakhi Sawant and Rahul Mahajan.^[20]

In June 2022, just after her film First Second Chance, she returned to Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2 as Gopi, to help Gehna resolve her family issues and to celebrate her 10-year anniversary of being part of Saath Nibhaana Saathiya.^[21][22] In September 2023, she join the Sony SAB's Dil Diyaan Gallaan as Disha.^[23]

In May 2023, a fake news was in circulation claiming that she was part of the cast of the controversial film The Kerala Story. According to The Searchlight's fact check, the claim was false.^[24]

In July 2024, she signed on to portray the role of Goddess Chhathi Maiyya in Sun Neo's Chhathi Maiyya Ki Bitiya, but in October 2024 she quit the show due to her pregnancy.^[25]

• All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.