She was born as Shabana Raza into a Muslim family. She made her film debut as heroine opposite Bobby Deol in Kareeb (1998). It was the maker of that film, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who gave her the screen-name 'Neha' which was the name of her character in that film. Her next release was Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet (1999), where she played the leading lady opposite Ajay Devgan. Wikipedia