Namitha was born in the Punjabi-speaking Kapoor family in Surat, Gujarat, India on May 10, 1981. She is the only daughter in this family, which consists of her dad, a businessman while her mom is a homemaker. She has a degree in English Literature. She used to teach swimming to young children and was raised in Bombay.

She first came into the limelight after she was crowned Miss Surat during the year 1998. She went on to participate in the 2001 Miss India pageant and ended up as the fourth runner-up, while Celina Jaitley was crowned Miss India during this event.

This publicity opened up doors for her and she did a number of TV commercials like Himani cream & hand soap, Arun Ice Cream, Manikchand Gutka, and Nile herbal shampoo.

Film director Siddiqui introduced her to the tinsel screen in a Malayalam movie, and thereafter Namitha has acted in several Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and English movies. In the first of two Telugu movies she went by the name of Bhairavi. She attained fame after the release of 'Engal Anna' in which she starred opposite Vijayakanth. She is also known as an item girl in regional movies, and often appears in Tamil magazine front covers. She became even more popular after her dance number 'Arjuna Arjuna'.

She is proficient in Karate, loves to dance, watch movies, swim and play badminton in her spare time and likes to work out physically. She likes novels, especially by Sidney Sheldon, as well as comic books. She is a promoter of Gadgetguru.