Piaa Bajpai was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India and resettled in Delhi at 18 to attend a computer course and hope to gain a break in films. Though her parents opposed her decision, she enrolled for a diploma in computer science, whilst undertaking small jobs such as working as a receptionist and tutoring in order to earn money to make a good portfolio. However after a year, the office job left her restless and she relocated to Mumbai on her own money. Piaa then began to work as a dubbing artiste for serials, but found the job depressing and moved onto modelling appearing in print-ads, commercials and music videos. Most notably, she went on to feature in adverts for Cadbury alongside veteran actor, Amitabh Bachchan and Sonata with cricketer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. She was eventually signed on by noted film-maker Priyadarshan to appear in a commercial he directed and it became a platform for her to break into films.