Zoya Akhtar is a popular Hindi film director and screen writer who made her debut with the film Luck By Chance (2009), which featured an ensemble cast, starring Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma. It won much critical appreciation despite not doing particularly well in the box-office. However her biggest success was the blockbuster Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), for which she even bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Director. Born in 1972 to her famous screenwriter parents, Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, Zoya Akhtar was raised in Mumbai where she completed her Bachelors degree at St Xavier's College. She then went on to study at the New York University Film School, in order to pursue the path of working with film production and direction.

She began her career with a music video titled "Price of Bullets" for Pentagram and Shankar Mahadevan, where she was the director alongside her brother Farhan Akhtar. Much of her work in the film industry has been in association with her family, particularly her brother Farhan Akhtar. She was the assistant director for his films Dil Chahta Hai (2001), and Lakshya (2004). She also worked with Reema Kagti in the film Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) as executive producer.

After gathering experience in this field, she went on to direct her first movie, Luck By Chance (2009) which got her popularity, and the super-hit Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011). Since then, she has directed a segment in Bombay Talkies (2013) and Dil Dhadakne Do (2015). She also wrote the screenplay for Talaash (2012), in collaboration with Reema Kagti.