Tanushree Dutta was born and raised in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand state (then Bihar),. She did her schooling at D.B.M.S. English School in Jamshedpur. She is a Bengali.
Before contesting for Miss India peagent, she worked in a Punjabi music video Laung Taviteriaan, by Balkar Sidhu.
She won the Femina Miss India title in 2004 held in Mumbai, at the age of 20 years, and was placed in the top ten in the Miss Universe 2004 pageant held in Quito, Ecuador.
She debuted in Bollywood in 2005. She worked on two films simultaneously Chocolate and Aashiq Banaya Apne. Chocolate was intended to be her debut film, however its release was preceded by Aashiq Banaya Apne