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Monika was born and brought up in Tehri Garhwal, which is a district in the state of Uttarakhand, in North India. While pursuing her graduation at Punjab University in Chandigarh, Monika got introduced to dramatics through the theatrical plays being performed in her college. Acting wasn't something that piqued Monika's interest initially; she was only interested in doing small roles and had no intention of taking it up as a full time profession, but then she watched "Godfather" and that turned out to be a life altering experience for her. She made up her mind to become an actress and spent the next three years learning the art form at the National School of Drama (NSD). In the year 2017, Debanjan Paul's short film Robbie Er Aami (2017), made as part of his film school project, turned out to be Monika's debut short film.
After completing her film school journey, Monika moved to Mumbai in the year 2018 and started auditioning for all sorts of roles. In the same year, Monika auditioned and got selected for a short film titled Destiny (2018). Directed by Vikkramm Chandirramani, the short film was awarded "Best Foreign Film" at "The Ridgewood Guild Film Festival, 2018". After months of auditions, no big role came her way but Monika never lost hope as she had complete faith in her potential and continued to audition and accepted all kinds of roles that came her way, regardless of their length or relevance to the film. She has made cameo appearances in movies like Super 30, Love Aaj Kal and Class of '83.
After six months of auditions, Monika landed the role of Gudiya in the Netflix show Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega (2020). The show got very popular and managed to put her on the radar. Monika's performance impressed even actor Aamir Khan, who video called her in order to appreciate her. The first season of the show got released in the year 2020 and as a consequence of it's popularity among the viewers as well as the critics, Netflix renewed it for another season, which came out in the year 2022. Even the second season received approval from the audience and Monika Panwar received a lot of praise for not only performing beautifully but also for managing to hold on to her own in a series that predominantly revolved around men.
Monika has done two web-shows and two movies since then, the most notable of them being Vijay Maurya's Mast Mein Rehne Ka (2023). The movie received a lot of praise and Monika Panwar was called the standout performer of the film by a number of critics. In the near future, Monika will be seen sharing screen with Huma Qureshi in Vipul Mehta's Gulabi and Radhika Apte and Keerthy Suresh in the Netflix series Akka. She also has a horror show coming up on Amazon Prime titled Khauf (2025) in which Abhishek Chauhan and Gagan Arora are her co actors.
Monika also performs live on the stage through theatrical plays, the two most notable of them being "Agarbatti" and "Man Maana Square". Directed by Swati Dubey, "Agarbatti" was based on the aftermath of the Behmai massacre, which was committed by Phoolan Devi and her gang to avenge her gangrape by the upper-caste Thakur men of Behmai. Monika played the role of Damyanti, a widow who lost her husband in the massacre. At the META (Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards) awards 2019, "Agarbatti" won four awards including Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Script and Best Light Design. Monika Panwar had also received a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. In the year 2018, Monika also participated in the play "Man Maana Square', which was produced by Red Mark's Actors Studio, a Mumbai based theatre group. The play focused on four characters and explored their primal instincts and curiosities. At the Thespo awards 2019, the play won four awards including "Outstanding Play" and "Outstanding Ensemble".
