Bipasha was born into a Bengali family. She is the second of three daughters to her parents. Although she was born in Delhi, her family later moved to Kolkata, where she went on to win a regional beauty contest at a very young age.

Bips, as she is fondly called, studied science until the 12th standard at Bhavan`s Gangabux Kanoria Vidyamandir and later took up commerce at The Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society College in Kolkata, where she also did modeling and ramp shows for partime. Initially

Bips wanted a career in medical sciences but her aversion for dissections made her opt for chartered accountancy. However, in 1996, she met well-known model Mehr Jessia in Kolkata; the latter advised Bipasha to take part in the Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest. She eventually participated, and won the contest.

She later came into the limelight when she won the Ford`s Supermodel of the World Contest and was named Tulips Ms Super Vivacious in the same event at the remarkably young age of 17.

The Ford Company also flew Basu to New York, where she had a successful modeling career. Bipasha has walked the ramp for almost all noteworthy Indian designers and appeared in ad campaigns for brands such as Close up, Calida, Mazaa and Thumps Up.

Besides doing innumerable prestigious ads, Bips, did the famous video "Tu" for Sonu Nigam`s album, `Kismat` and she also made a guest appearance in Jay Sean`s music video `Stolen`. This became her call to Bollywood as well.