Advani was born 31 July 1991, to Jagdeep Advani, a Sindhi Hindu businessman and Genevieve Jaffrey, a teacher whose father was originally from Lucknow and whose mother was of Scottish, Irish, Portuguese, and Spanish ancestry. She has a younger brother, Mishaal, who is a musician. She is related to several celebrities through her maternal family. Actors Ashok Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey are her step-great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.
Advani was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai. She then attended Jai Hind College, Mumbai where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications.
Born as Alia Advani, she changed her first name to Kiara prior to the release of her first film, Fugly, in 2014. Her choice of name was inspired by Priyanka Chopra's character Kiara in the film Anjaana Anjaani (2010). She stated that it was Salman Khan's suggestion to change her name, as Alia Bhatt was already an established actress.
