Reema Lamba (born 24 October 1976), better known as Mallika Sherawat, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi language films. Known for her bold onscreen attitude in films like Khwahish (2003) and Murder (2004), Sherawat has established herself as a sex symbol and as one of the most popular celebrities in Bollywood. She then appeared in the successful romantic comedy Pyaar Ke Side Effects (2006) which won her much critical acclaim.

Since then, she has appeared in successes like Aap Ka Suroor, Welcome (both 2007) — her biggest commercial success so far — and Double Dhamaal (2011). She is one of the few Bollywood stars trying to cross over to Hollywood, with films like Hisss (2010) and Politics of Love (2011).

Early life
Sherawat was born as Reema Lamba in Moth, a small village in Hisar district of Haryana to a Jat family. Mallika's father is named Mukesh Kumar Lamba and she was born in the family of Seth Chhaju Ram, a leading Jat philanthropist. She adopted the screen name of "Mallika", meaning "empress", to avoid confusion with other actresses named Reema. "Sherawat" is her mother's maiden name She has stated that she uses her mother's maiden name because of the support that her mother has provided her.

Although relations with her family were strained when she entered the film industry, Sherawat's family has now accepted her career choice and they have reconciled.

Sherawat went to Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. She has a degree in philosophy from Miranda House, Delhi University. During the initial days of her career, she claimed to be from a very conservative small-town family and that she faced many hurdles from them in pursuing her career. However, Sherawat's family has rebutted this as a story created by her to give her an aura of a rustic girl who made it big in Bollywood.