Saif Ali Khan was born in New Delhi on 16th of August, 1970. He is nicknamed as Saifu or Chhote Nawab. He is the son of Sharmila Tagore, a Hindi film actress and erstwhile chief of the censor board of India, and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the eighth Nawab of Pataudi and former Captain of the Indian cricket team. He has two sisters- Saba and Soha Ali Khan.

Saif Ali Khan was first schooled in Lawrence School in Sanawar and the he went to a Hertfordshire institution named Lockers Park School. Also attended Winchester College, like his father.

Saif Ali Khan entered Bollywood with the movie Aashiq Awara, for which he won the Best Male Debutante award in 1993. His movie "Yeh Dillagi" with Kajol and Akshay Kumar in 1994, was his first commercially successful movie. He has done many movies with Akshay Kumar. His other movies include "Kya Kehna" (2000) with Preity Zinta, "Dil Chahta Hai"(2001) with director Farhan Akhtar, "Kal Ho Na Ho"(2003) with Preity and Shahrukh Khan, Hum Tum(2004) with Rani Mukherjee, for which he won the National Award, Omkara(2006) with Vishal Bharadwaj. His last movie was Kurbaan(2009) with Kareena Kapoor.

Saif Ali Khan was previously married to actress, Amrita Singh, from 1991 to 2004. They have two children Sara and Ibrahim. Then, he dated Italian model Rosa Catalano for a brief period. Since 2007, he is in a live in relationship with Kareena Kapoor. They plan to tie the knot soon.

On 18th February, 2007, Saif Ali Khan was admitted to Lilavati Hospital for a mild heart-attack. Since then, he has quit smoking.