Born on February 26, 1986, Sriti Jha hails from Darbhanga, Bihar. However, the Kumkum Bhagya actress lived in Kolkata for a considerate number of years as her family moved to the city and later moved to Kathmandu, Nepal. (All pictures/Sriti Jha's official Instagram account)

After Nepal, Sriti's family finally moved to New Delhi, where she completed her schooling from Laxman Public School and pursued her bachelor of arts in English from Sri Venkateshwara College, New Delhi.

While in college, Sriti Jha joined the English dramatic society called Verbum. She was also named as the club's President. Sriti was just 18 then.

In 2007, Sriti Jha made her acting debut with Disney Channel India's Dhoom Machaao Dhoom, a show that gave break to her other co-stars Vikrant Massey, Kinshuk Mahajan, Maanvi Gagroo, Toral Rasputra and Jay Bhanushali, who too are now one of the most popular actors of the film and television industry.

Sriti Jha's character Malini Sharma aka Mallu played keyboards secretly due to her conservative father's opposition to music. The show gave quite a boost to her career.

After Dhoom Machaao Dhoom, Sriti Jha then featured in Television shows such as Shaurya Aur Suhani, Jiya Jale, Rakt Sambandh and Jyoti.

Sriti Jha got lucky to play strong roles in those (roughly a decade ago) time when most of the series was dominated by saas-bahu themes. In Rakt Sambandh, Sriti Jha played a blind girl whereas in Jyoti she featured as a girl with a split personality.

In 2011, Sriti Jha gained immense fame with the show Saubhagyavati Bhava. Saubhagyavati Bhava focussed on the stigma of domestic violence with Karanvir Bohra in the role of abusive husband and Sriti as his wife and the victim.

In 2014, Sriti Jha joined Ekta Kapoor's club by starring in Kumkum Bhagya, co-starring Shabir Ahluwalia. The Zee TV show became the top-rated fiction show and is ruling the television space for the past 6 years with the show's lead protagonists Pragya (Sriti) and Abhi (Shabir) emerging as TV's most sought-after lovers.

Kumkum Bhagya is probably every television producer's dream come true — after all, the Ekta Kapoor offering is one of the few Hindi shows that can boast of over 1,500 episodes. But Sriti Jha does not feel monotonous as an artiste to play Pragya for five years, day in, day out.

"I'm not bored; I can play this character for another five years," said Sriti in a candid interview with mid-day. 

Also, unlike Pragya, Sriti Jha confessed that she is extremely lazy. That's why the actress has been content doing one show for so long.

Like many television stars, Sriti too dreams about Bollywood but is not in a hurry to join the brigade. 

"Today, most of the channels are targeting Indian women and that is why roles for actresses are more challenging and vast compared to male actors. Bollywood is definitely on my list, but I don't want to make a hurried decision. Let the right offer and right time come, I will happily grab it," she said.

Sriti Jha is a fine poet too. She recently participated in open mic poetry reading. "I am investing a lot of free time in writing poetry. I have to practise a lot more to get better. But this is something I've always wanted to do," she said.

Here's wishing Sriti Jha a very happy birthday!