Simi Garewal was born on October 17, 1947 to a Punjabi Sikh family in India. Her father was J.S Garewal who was in the military. Her mother was a homemaker. Her family migrated to London in early 1953 when she was barely 6 years old. In 1961, she moved back to India in order to become an actress. She was offered a small role in the English film Tarzan aux Indes (1962). When the film was released, she was noticed by filmmakers which resulted in getting more roles in Bollywood movies. However, her accented Hindi blocked her pathway to becoming a successful actress and hence, she was reduced to secondary roles in movies. In 1972, her nude scene in Siddhartha (1972) created a huge controversy in India and the film was not released due to censorship problems. After 1972, her demand began diminishing and she turned her attention to writing and direction. She now runs a TV show named Rendezvous with Simi in which she interviews popular Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities.
