She was born in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, and raised in Chandigarh, in a Brahmin family.
Her father, Mukesh Gautam, is a Punjabi film director, and her younger sister Surilie Gautam also entered films, debuting with the Punjabi movie Power Cut.
Before Bollywood fame, Yami appeared in television serials like Chand Ke Paar Chalo (2008–2009) and Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam (2009–2010).
She made her film debut in Kannada cinema with Ullasa Utsaha (2010), before breaking into Hindi films with Vicky Donor (2012).
Yami has acted in multiple languages, including Kannada, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil films, showcasing her versatility.
She earned acclaim for her roles in Badlapur (2015) and Kaabil (2017), and later achieved major success with Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) and Bala (2019).
In her personal life, she married filmmaker Aditya Dhar in 2021, and the couple welcomed their first child in 2024.