Sapna was born on January 5, 1971 in Mumbai, India in a Sindhi family. She was raised in Bandra, Mumbai, from where she completed her high school. She used to get excellent grades in school & was a brilliant student and used to act like a wild tomboy, though by the time she reached 7th grade, her attention shifted from academics and she says she then "discovered" boys in the 7th grade. She used to ride to school on a motorcycle, and often used to do pranks and escapades. She told she used chloroform on her father to make him fall asleep, so that she could sneak out late with boys of her school. Her father, who owned Blue Nile (a cabaret joint) and Wongs a Chinese restaurant, died when she was 18. Sapna said she was very close to her father and commented, "I may look like a freak, but deep inside, I’m just daddy’s little girl."

After her father's demise, her family started facing a hard financial condition. So, Sapna decided to drop out of her college in Mumbai and move to the United States, with her Indian-American aunt helping her with the immigration to Chicago in 1989. In Chicago, Sapna initially did some odd jobs like waitressing at an Italian restaurant and enrolled herself as a student at a business school.She graduated with a double major in Marketing and Communication and a minor in Public Speaking from Chicago's Barat College. Sapna additionally tried her hand in fashion designing. She developed an interest in hairdressing and took up this profession. She said in an interview with Tehelka magazine, "I decided that by the time I hit 30, I wanted to have a house in the hills, a Cadillac and an Elvis lookalike boyfriend." She was living the American Dream in Los Angeles, California and managed to get what she wanted.

In 2002, she went to India for a visit after 6 years and happened to meet a man whom she briefly dated when she used to live in Mumbai as a teen. He told her that he had been waiting for her all these years and that he hadn't moved on. Sapna, at once, decided to leave everything in the United States - her job, career, house and boyfriend - and be with that man and start life afresh in Mumbai. She narrated, "So I went back to LA, sold my house and car, dumped my Elvis lookalike boyfriend and moved here (to Mumbai)," However, their relationship didn't work out but Sapna developed a likelihood for the city she had grown up in as a child.

Struggling to establish herself in Mumbai, Sapna initially did job as a hairdresser for a salon called Juice, and also started working as Bollywood stylist. Her business continued to flourish. She also took up writing, by working as a columnist for the newspaper Mumbai Mirror for 3 years and then MiD DAY, where her articles appeared every week. In 2004, she opened her first hair salon, called Mad-O-Wot, at Carter Road, Mumbai, with a team of five people. but later moved the store to Bandra. In 2011, Sapna started her second salon in Andheri, Mumbai. She also relocated her first store within Bandra to a bigger location with better interiors in September in the same year, with Katrina Kaif doing the inauguration. She said in an interview, "This new location to me is really nice. I love kinda constantly moving on in life and it gives you the feeling that you're evolving. So, my first location was very small, then I moved to something bigger and then a little bigger and now, we've expanded over two floors and I guess it feels really nice."

Sapna has worked with celebrity clients from a range of fields like entertainment, sports, politics and business. Her clients include Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Hrithik Roshan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, John Abraham, Siddharth Mallya, Mandira Bedi, Dino Morea and Gauri Khan. In 2011, she worked with the actor Ranveer Singh, giving his hair a complete makeover for his different looks in the film Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

In an attempt diversify her business portfolio, Sapna set up a production company called Mad-O-Wot Productions in June 2010. The company was established with the objective to promote creative talent and aimed at making music videos, commercials and short films. Sapna told that she wants be become a director at some stage. In July 2010, Sapna worked on Project Unite, that attempted to re-record the Indian national anthem with a music video featuring common Indian people on the streets. Sapna was one of the nine people who gave vocals to the track, that also featured Raghu Ram, Sugandha Garg and Avani Shah among others from the field of entertainment and hairstyling industry. The video was released on August 15, 2010, India's Independence Day. Sapna said, "It's a baby step for a (patriotic) change."

In October 2010, her production house released a music video called raat, with a Mumbai-based band named Airport. Sapna also acted in that video. About the music video, Sapna said in an interview with CNN Travel, "I was thinking of trying my hand at it and before I knew it, I had a song in my hand and a video to make." Mad-O-Wot productions' next project was the music video/film called Snare which was released in March 2011. In April 2011, she released a music-based project as a promotional feature for her Mad-O-Wot brand, which she co-directed with Arijit Datta, that featured Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman. Sapna next directed a music video in June 2011 for Kailash Kher's single Amber Tak Yahi Naad Goonjega. The track was a dedication to Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. Sapna said in an interview with The Times of India, "He (Kailash) wrote the song within 24 hours and performed it at Azad Maidan. Then we decided to officially record it and share it with the world. It's a simple, humble video that speaks for itself" In May 2012, she released a dramatic musical video, Ruh, in collaboration with Arijit Datta Projects.

Sapna was part of a play titled NIRBHAYA, which premiered at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world, in August 2013. It won the coveted Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award given to an outstanding Fringe production which raises awareness of human rights. It also won the Scotsman Fringe First and the Herald Angel Award for Outstanding New Play. The play is based on real-life events and gender-based violence: On the night of December 16, 2012 a young woman and her male friend boarded a bus in urban Delhi heading for home, and what followed, changed the lives of these two people and countless others forever. The play was written and directed by internationally acclaimed playwright and director Yael Farber.

Sapna created her own fashion line in collaboration with fashion designer Sukriti Grover. The brand emphasized on classic cuts with strong structured shapes paired with basic colours "black, grey and white." It aimed to be a collection that can be paired with anything, and worn for work as well as play. The duo's Fall/Winter 2012 collection premiered at Lakme Fashion Week.

• Sapna hosted a few short episodes of comedy entertainment web show called The Speedy Gonsalez Show on her official YouTube channel from August 2009 for three months. She pretended to be a wasted and promiscuous Mexican man living in India, where her guests used to give performances.^[25] The most notable episode is the one where she is seen frolicking with the Indian cricketer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.^[26]
• In September 2009, Sapna authored a non-fiction self-help book titled Style-O-Wot, targeted to teen girls, in which she gives tips related to fashion, trends and style.^[27] The book was published by Scholastic India and was marketed under children's books section.^[28] The description of the book reads: "What would you rather be today, A punk rocker, a goth or a hip hopper? Choose from these looks and more in this wacky and fun book of styles, from Sapna Bhavnani, the stylist herself."^[29]
• Sapna organized an art project called Kalingar at Zenzi in Bandra, Mumbai in June 2011 which was a fusion of hair, fashion and photography, along with designer Masaba Gupta and photographer Joy Dutta.^[30]
• Sapna has actively endorsed PETA's cause for humane approach to animals and in July 2011 she acted in and modeled for a short promotional ad film, with the tag line "Cut hair, not frogs", to send out her message. The project was produced by PETA India.^[31]
• In November 2011, Sapna launched her own clothing line called SoFake,^[32] with the designer-stylist Sukriti Grover, and showcased its latest collection, Kathorian,^[33] at the August 2012 Lakme Fashion Week.^[1][6] The label is inspired by Victorian influences and the Indian dance form Kathakali.^[6] The label's designer waistcoats, linen shirts, jackets and high-waisted pants are made available for sale her salons,^[1] and at some other stores in Mumbai.^[32]
• Sapna, once again, did a commercial for PETA in January 2013. With the slogan "Ink not Mink - Be comfortable in your own skin and let animals keep theirs", she shot this advertisement in the nude. She said in a statement, "I take a very strong stance on leather. After I educated myself and saw a few films on the cruelty and what happens to animals, I realized that it just wasn't worth it."^[34]
• In February 2013, she made an appearance at the Jack Daniel's Rock Awards at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, along with other celebrities like Monica Dogra, Shekhar Ravjiani, Mandira Bedi, Yukta Mookhey and Hard Kaur.^[35]

Sapna acted in a 2006 hit Hindi film Pyaar Ke Side Effects, though her performance failed to create any hype.^[36] In August 2008, her next film Ugly Aur Pagli was released, in which Sapna did a cameo role. Sapna commented in an interview after the trail release of the film, "I've got so many calls and messages, it's crazy. My friends in the press who went for the trial show said, 'Sapna, you have to watch yourself. You are so funny.'"^[37]

Films

She participated in an Indian celebrity reality TV show, Bigg Boss Season 6 on the TV channel Colors, that went on air in October 2012. Sapna developed some differences with the host of the show, Salman Khan and maintained a low profile whenever Salman made appearance on the show to talk to house-mates.^[38][39][40] Sapna was nominated for eviction for a total of eight times during her stay in the house. She was saved by the public vote seven times.

A week before the finale, Sapna was evicted from the show in January 2013, after spending 90 days in the Bigg Boss house and stated that winning the show was never her aim.^[12][41] Reacting about her discord with Salman Khan on the show, she commented to PTI, "Salman is not God, neither am I. We have differences, he is the no. 1 star, which doesn't mean that I have to act with him in a certain way."^[42] She also said, "The house is not a reality. Nothing is real inside. People react on the smallest of things. I thought that Alag che (It's different) was the concept and would have wanted one of my role models to win the show."^[2] During her stay in the house, she gave almost every contestant a haircut and a makeover.^[43] Also, her unannounced spurts of madness, controversies, conflicts with Salman Khan and the Bigg Boss team gained considerable attention and interest from the viewers.^[43]

About her experience on the show, she said in an interview with The Pioneer, "I think I am lucky that I was a part of the show for over 13 weeks and I managed it without being a part of any games or being with the so-called group. I stayed away and I think that contributed a lot in making my experience a completely fabulous one."^[44] Though she said she wanted to give out a message on women empowerment on the show, she later said in a live interview with Viacom 18 Media that she was living her message on the show and elaborated, "I wanted to show that a 42 year old Indian woman can look like this, cannot wear a saree, cannot have the traditional long hair, not be married at 42, not have kids, and be extremely happy."^[12]

Sapna is known for her wacky sense of style, with her body covered with tattoos and piercings, and her pixie-like cropped hair, inspired by goth and punk-rock styles. She said in an interview, "I am not really wacky as a person. I am known to always sport my motorcycle boots and my red hairstyle. Maybe people judge me by the way I look by the ink on my body."^[5] A tomboy at heart,^[4] Sapna maintains that she always have been vocal about her feelings and thoughts.^[44] Her immediate family consists of her mother, who lives in Mumbai, and whom Sapna calls "my role model and my life support"^[4] and two brothers.^[3] She said in an interview, "My motto of life is only when you jump off the cliff will you know that you can fly."^[12] She said she believes in "practice what you preach".^[12] She prefers wearing black.^[12]

She presently claims to be single, though she had past three failed marriages. She divorced her first husband, a German, after about a year of marriage, as Sapna said her mother-in-law was racist towards her and used to call her "dot-head" and "brown skinned". Sapna also termed her father-in-law as paranoid. Her second marriage was to the Indian man for whom she relocated from USA to India, and Sapna used to date him when she was in her teens. Sapna divulged that man later turned possessive and violent, started verbally abusing her and eventually she became a victim of domestic violence as he hit her. Sapna decided to walk out of the four-month-old marriage when he raised his hands on her. Her third marriage was to Indian model Sameer Malhotra which also ended in a divorce within a year and Sapna says it ended because of her.^[45][46]

She also used to be romantically involved with a Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Arijit Datta.^[15] At a web-interview on In.com, she told that while doing the show Bigg Boss, she got attracted to an Indian model, Niketan Madhok, who was her co-contestant.^[12] During the show at Bigg Boss, she confessed that she is not good at making poppadoms and yellow dal with white rice.

Sapna is fond of cats and has three pet cats named Logic,^[47] Future and Frida.