Zareen Khan was born on 14 May 1987 in Mumbai, into a Pathan family. She speaks Hindi, Urdu, English and Marathi, and some Pashto. She completed her intermediate at Rizvi College of Science, Mumbai.

In 2011, Khan did the item number “Character Dheela” with Salman Khan in Anees Bazmee’s Ready, parodying characters from Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay and Shri 420 and it was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2011.

In 2013, Khan made her Tamil debut in Vetrimaaran’s Naan Rajavaga Pogiren, in which she did an item number in the song “Malgove” alongside Nakul Jaidev. She was appreciated for the song. Taran Adarsh commented, “Zarine Khan’s song is high on energy.”

In 2015, Khan appeared in erotic thriller film Hate Story 3, in which she played Siya. The film was a commercial success and got Khan further recognition. She then appeared in a music video “Pyaar Manga Hai” with Ali Fazal. The song was sung by Armaan Malik and Neeti Mohan. In 2016, Khan did an item number in the film Veerappan. The same year, she also appeared in another item song named “Mahi Ve” in the film Wajah Tum Ho.

In 2017, Khan appeared in Aksar 2. In the film, she was seen romancing with Gautam Rode, and the first poster of the movie was released on 4 August 2017 on YouTube. Umesh Punwani from Koimoi.com wrote, ”Zareen Khan does good in parts but sadly she is majorly used for the skin show. Years into Bollywood she still can’t emote her expressions properly.” Bollywood Hungama disliked Khan’s performance and wrote, ”Zareen Khan is strictly okay and though she is sizzling, it’s done just for the heck of it. She tries to be the female Emraan Hashmi but it doesn’t work for her. Performance-wise, she doesn’t give her best shot.” The film did not perform well at the box office.

In 2018, Khan starred in Vikram Bhatt’s horror film 1921, the fourth installment in 1920 film series. Shikta Sanyal of Koimoi.com called it ”Khan’s best performance till date.” Although the film received mixed reviews, it managed to recover its cost and became an ”average grosser.” In January 2018, Khan signed Ashok Nanda’s action film One Day: Justice Delivered, in which she was set to portray the role of a police officer. She was eventually replaced by Esha Gupta.

In 2019, she made her Telugu debut with action-thriller film Chanakya, which received mixed reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office. The same year, she appeared in Punjabi film Daaka, which also received mixed reviews.

Khan will next star in film Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele with Anshuman Jha, which revolves around a unique love story about two homosexuals and is scheduled to release in 2020.