Poonam Dhillon (born 18 April 1962 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, but raised in Chandigarh, Punjab) is an Indian actress and politician. She is one of three children of aeronautics engineer Amrik Singh and Gurcharan Kaur. Her sister is Dr. Rishma Pai, a prominent gynaecologist in Mumbai. She attended Carmel Convent High School, Chandigarh, and was crowned Miss Young India 1978 — the Eve's Weekly pageant — which brought her to the attention of filmmaker Yash Chopra. Chopra offered her a role in Trishul (1978, featuring the memorable song 'Gapoochi Gapoochi Gum Gum') and then cast her in the lead of his production Noorie (1979), co-starring Farooq Sheikh — a low-budget film shot in Bhaderwah, Kashmir, with Khayyam's music that became a massive blockbuster and made her an overnight star. Over the next decade, she appeared in hits including Dard, Nishan, Awam, Zamana (all opposite Rajesh Khanna — a pairings that became iconic), Karma (1986, opposite Dilip Kumar and Anil Kapoor), and Batwara (1989). She has also acted in Bengali, Tamil, and Kannada films. She married filmmaker Ashok Thakeria in 1988; they have a son (Anmol) and a daughter (Paloma). The couple divorced in 1997. She has won the BJP ticket for the Punjab constituency of Gurdaspur and has been active in party politics. In October 2009, she entered Bigg Boss Season 3, competing for all 82 days and finishing as the Second Runner-Up at the grand finale on 26 December 2009.

Debut film Trishul (1978, dir. Yash Chopra) with the song 'Gapoochi Gapoochi Gum Gum'; title role in Noorie (1979, produced by Yash Chopra) — a blockbuster that launched her stardom; blockbuster on-screen pairing with Rajesh Khanna across six films including Dard, Nishan, Zamana, and Awam; Eve's Weekly Miss Young India 1978; BJP politician from Punjab; Second Runner-Up of Bigg Boss Season 3.

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