Born on 1st January, the popular actress Himani Shivpuri has carved a niche in the hearts of her fans by her superb performances. She was born and brought up in Dehradun. She completed her schooling from Dehradun itself. Her father Shri Haridutt Bhatt was a teacher of the subject of Hindi. She hails from the village of Bhatwani previously known as Chamoli and is a graduate in science. She took admission in the National Acting Institute in Delhi because her main interest was in the arena of acting. After performing for a considerable time as a stage actress she achieved her desire of acting in Hindi films.

She has spent her whole childhood and teenage in the beautiful district of Uttaranchal. Her family is also based there. Her father resides in the town of Mysore and her brother works in ONGC at Dehradun. She is very much attached to her family and considers Uttaranchal to be her home. She has been to her native village a lot many times during her childhood mainly during the summer vacations. She still cherishes the fond memories of grass thrashing over there and also used to steal jaggery and sugar from the sack and eat them. She was very mischievous and indulged herself completely in the innocent childhood life.

According to her the people of Uttaranchal are good but a bit lazy and in order to bring about the proper development of the place the `Garhwali` and `Kumauni` attitude has to be destroyed. Dehradun and Mussoorie are the two most beautiful places of the world and the rivers and mountains of this place make her feel at ease with nature. She also feels that magnificent beauty of Uttaranchal cannot be found anywhere. She has always shuttled between film and television and has been a part of many blockbuster Hindi films.

It was when she was traveling with her theater group that Himani Shivpuri came across Kunwar Sinha who was the director of Humrahi. When he approached her after seeing a few of her performances. Ten years before this she was offered Hum Log but she refused to portray the role of Chutki which was a big hit later on. She refused the role because she was headlong into theater then and accepting the role would require her to cut down her theater assignments.

When she portrayed the role of Devki in Humrahi she became a household name and soon began to enjoy her share of name and fame. Himani Shivpuri has done some unforgettable performance and made her debut in television in the year 1989 with In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones in which her co-star was none other than the Bollywood Badshaah Shah Rukh Khan. She has performed in movies more than serials. People gauged that she was talented and they wanted to develop it. Soon after the renowned Hindi film director Sooraj Barjatiya offered her a character portrayal in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. It was the gut feeling that the film would reap golden harvests, which made her accept the offer, and the rest is history.

She is very choosy about her work and only takes up those roles, which excites her. She also considers herself the lucky mascot for the blockbusters like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Pardes and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. When he got a chance to act in television many people advised her against it saying that she would ruin her filmy career but nothing like that happened in her case. The length of the role is not a matter of concern for her. As an actor she has progressed a lot. When she had graduated from the National School of Drama she was more conscious of the technicality of acting but gradually she started to rely on her gut feeling and deliver her best.

In the popular tele-soap India Calling she plays the role of the grandmother of the main protagonist, Chandni and her character is named Lajoji. In another serial Ghar Ek Sapna she plays the character of Uttra who is nothing like her husband but is suspicious of other people and it is indeed very hard to live with her. But she is also a good mother and has the best at heart for her children. She is depicted as an individual who is not good in any relations and constantly engages in arguments with her husband, her mother-in-law and her children Sharad and Rishabh. She has accepted the offer of Josh because it was not the typical saans-bahu serial. She does not want to restrict herself to one medium only and would like to experiment with her skills of acting. According to her both the mediums have their highs and low though films pay much more and are even accessible to the international audience.

But the television gives her the opportunity to become a household name. One of the main reasons she cites in a recent interview of reducing her appearance in the small screen was due to the so-called advice of the people as well as the frequent outstation travel and settlement of dates that was required in the big projects. But she is totally against the idea of working in a daily shows as the very thought of long hours and terrific speed makes her feel exhausted. According to her films are not at all taxing as one scene stretches up to three days and the actors are not on a jet plane ride. She also feels that the quality of work suffers in a daily, as everything is so time-bound. She also feels that television is like newspaper. After the day is over it has no value. But in the case of movies it is completely different and the actors are remembered for a long time and it has lost of repeat value. She in fact hates to see serials, which keep on dragging on the stereotype subjects. She feels that there is need of lot of experimentation on the part of these serials.

She has always accepted roles that have impressed her mind and stirred her heart. Some of the roles did not do well but then again she claims that the show business is very uncertain and unpredictable. To her enacting the scenes, which have long dialogues, is not a problem at all and she thanks her theatre experience for this.

The personal life Himani Shivpuri was in a complete turmoil after the death of her husband when she was shooting for the chartbuster `Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge`. But she somehow managed to boost her spirit and engrossed herself completely in work. She had to take care of her and had to live for him amidst all the adversities and that is what she did. Off screen Himani Shivpuri is a completely different person. In fact there is not even a minute percent of similarity that she portrays on screen. She is basically a very shy, introvert person who loves her solitude

. In her spare time she would like to listen some good and meaningful music, read a book, go for a walk and spend some quality time with nature and be totally immersed in the beauties and bounties of the natural world. If not in the field of acting she would have been a professor of Organic Chemistry or may be doing some research work and getting the Nobel Prize for some marked discovery. She was very happy to receive the news that Uttaranchal was declared as a separate state and hoped that many changes would take place. She also had many dreams and thought she will do something for her field and for her state but destiny had something else in store for her and she had to shift to the tinsel town from Delhi. The dreams are still incomplete but she would definitely fulfill her dreams and do something for her native land as soon as she gets an opportunity. She affirms in a recent interview that she will fulfill her dream by being in this profession only. When she was in Delhi she was aware of the happenings in Uttaranchal and had also written about Chipko Movement. Her father also has a good name in the literature field and has written many stories on Chipko Movement.

She also claims that her father has immense knowledge on the national song and music of Uttaranchal. She is well versed in her mother tongue as well. She has seen some Uttaranchal movies but did not like them, as they were not that good compared to Bollywood movies. She also considers that finance is one of the main reasons for the failure of these regional movies. But she gives more priority to intentions and ambitions. She would also like to work in regional film if she gets a good opportunity. She wants the theatre of Uttaranchal to prosper in the same way as the Bengali theater. She likes to maintain herself as a normal human being whose only professional job is to act. According to her profession is good in every term except the matter of keeping personal life private. About the subject of acting she thinks one has to have it in herself and do regular practice to mature into a better actor.

This great actress of the Indian television has carved a niche for herself in the hearts of her audience with her power packed performances and will continue to do so as long as she lives.