Personal info
Known for
Actor
Gender
Female
Date of Birth
1980-08-27
Location
Maharashtra, India
Edit pageShibani Dandekar
Biography
Shibani Dandekar Akhtar (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian-born Australian singer, actress, host and model. She began her career working as a television host on American television.
Following her return to India, she began hosting several shows and events on Hindi television, besides working as a model and singer.
She was one of the co-hosts of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. She was also a contestant on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5 (2012) and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 8 (2017).
Dandekar was born in Pune as the eldest daughter of a Marathi family. Her father Shashidhar Dandekar is a theatre actor in Australia and her mother Sulabha Dandekar works in Qantas Airways, Australia.
She has two sisters, Anusha Dandekar, an actress-singer working in Bollywood, and Apeksha Dandekar. Dandekar along with her sisters formed a music band named D-Major. Dandekar grew up in Australia and Africa for the majority of her childhood.
Dandekar started dating Bollywood filmmaker and actor Farhan Akhtar in 2018, just after his divorce from Adhuna Bhabani in 2017. On 19 February 2022, they got married in a non-religious ceremony at Farhan's father's farmhouse in Khandala.
In 2001, she moved to New York City and began working in American television. She hosted three nationally syndicated television shows, Namaste America, V Desi, and the Asian Variety Show.
In this role, she introduced Bollywood's biggest stars to American audiences and also hosted An Evening With Shah Rukh Khan in Atlantic City.
She has been a contestant on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa,[citation needed] the India-based Dancing With the Stars on the BBC network and hosted in India on Colors TV.
