Gupta was born in Delhi. Her father is a retired Air Force Officer and her mother is a homemaker. She has a sister named Neha. She was studying Mass Communication from School of Communication, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal prior to auditioning for Femina Miss India, and got a law scholarship at Newcastle University, but she pursued a career in Bollywood instead.

Gupta participated in Femina Miss India in 2007, where she won Miss Photogenic and came 3rd to go on to compete in Miss India International. She featured in the Kingfisher Calendar in 2010.

Gupta made her Bollywood debut with Mahesh Bhatt's Jannat 2 opposite Emraan Hashmi in the lead role. For her debut performance, Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama said, "Debutante Esha Gupta enchants you with her captivating charm. She appears a tad unrefined at places, nonetheless she handles her part assertively." Martin D'Souza of Glam Sham wrote, "As for the debutante, Esha Gupta, I guess she may have to enroll herself into an acting school." Gaurav Malani stated, "Esha Gupta, who looks a mix between Lara Dutta and Isha Koppikar, is merely there for the glam quotient." Asha Mahadevan of Bollywoodlife said, "Even Esha Gupta manages to cry somewhat convincingly but then there is hardly anything for her to do. Her role is limited to looking sexy and she does it well." The film was a success at the box office, earning ₹430 million (US$6.7 million) domestically and thus brought in more recognition for Gupta. Later, Gupta signed Vikram Bhatt's Raaz 3D alongside her Jannat 2 co-star, Emraan Hashmi and Bipasha Basu, Gupta received mixed reviews from critics for her acting prowess, film critic Taran Adarsh commented, "Esha Gupta appears awkward and self-conscious in the initial portions, but holds a few sequences graciously in the subsequent hour. I'd like to single out a scene when she has delusions of cockroaches attacking her. Her act in that particular scene is super". Film critic Komal Nahta noted, "Esha Gupta is stiff as Sanjana but does much better towards the end (when she almost goes berserk)". India Today wrote, "Both Bipasha and Esha get liberal scope to show off booty. A Bhatt film where the heroines don't get to flaunt it is unimaginable, after all, Bipasha looks hot in her starring role but Esha reveals a few raw edges".^[20] 'Raaz 3' performed well at box office within first three days of its release with collections in the vicinity of 360 million.^[21]

In 2014, Esha was seen in Sajid Khan's Comic Caper Humshakals alongside Saif Ali Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Tamannaah. Box Office India declared it a "disaster".^[22] She was ranked at 8th position for Times '50 most desirable Women of 2013.

Gupta has also committed to star in Tatineni Satya's Tamil/Telugu bilingual untitled film opposite Sachiin J Joshi.^[23]

Television

• 2013: FHM World's Sexiest 100 Women:#55
• 2013: Times of India's Hotlist 2012 Most Promising Female Newcomer: No. 5
• 2013: Times of India's Most Desirable Women of 2012 No. 13 out of 50.
• 2014: Times of India's Most Desirable Woman of 2013 No. 8 out of 50.
• 2015: Times of India's Most Desirable Women of 2014 No. 15 out of 50.