Nafisa alias Jiah Khan committed suicide at her residence in Mumbai's Juhu area, police said Tuesday. She was 25.
The Britain-born actress was found hanging at her flat in Sagar Sangeet Building in the posh Juhu area of northwest Mumbai around midnight. The cause of the suicide is not yet clear, police said, adding that autopsy reports were awaited.
Police are questioning her domestic help, security persons and neighbours to ascertain what could have triggered the extreme step.
News of her death was first reported by actress Dia Mirza through a social networking site around 1.45 a.m.
Jiah shot into the limelight in 2007 with her debut movie "Nishabd" in which she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan.
She got a Filmfare Best Debutant nomination for the Ram Gopal Varma movie in which she plays a teenager besotted with a man old enough to be her father.
In 2008, she was seen along with Aamir Khan and Asin in the blockbuster "Ghajini", a remake of A.R. Murugadoss's Tamil film by the same title.
She was last seen in Sajid Khan's "Housefull" with Akshay Kumar, Reiteish Deshmukh, Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta.
She was born Nafisa and changed her name to Jiah before going back to her birth name. Her mother is Rabiya Amin, an actress in the 1980s who was seen in the Tahir Hussain movie "Dulha Bikta Hai".