Mahima Chaudhary was born Ritu Chaudhry in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Her father is from Kakripur village in Baghpat, Western Uttar Pradesh and is a Jat. Her mother is a Gorkhali from Darjeeling. She attended Dow Hill school till class X and later moved to Loreto Convent for her plus two levels. She completed her ISC board in 1988.
She also attended Loreto College in Darjeeling. She won a local beauty pageant in Darjeeling before moving to Delhi for college. Initially in the 90s, she appeared in TV advertisements (including the Wall’s ice cream ad when the brand entered India), and was a VJ on music channels where she was noticed by Subhash Ghai. Ghai gave her a break in the movie Pardes which was released in ’97. Ghai also renamed her due to some superstition. He considered M to be lucky for her.