Madhavi was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. She grew up with a brother and a sister. She started dancing when she was eight years old. She became a well-known Bharat Natyam dancer and has given more than a thousand performances. She had also appeared in small roles in films as a child actress. While still in eighth grade at Stanley Girls High School in Hyderabad, she was discovered by famous film director Dasari Narayana Rao who cast her in the leading role in the Telugu film "Thoorpu Padamara," which was a huge success, and catapulted her to stardom. Though she started her career acting in Telugu (her mother tongue), because of her talent and flair for languages she went on to act in six other languages: Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Oriya, Bengali and Malayalam. She acted with famous stars in films directed by great film directors. She has won many state awards as best actress. She also earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actress for the Hindi film "Ek Duje Ke Liye" (1981), a remake of her hit Telugu film "Marocharithra" (1979). She has appeared in more than three hundred films. She ended her seventeen-year career as a leading lady, when she married a businessman named Ralph Sharma in 1996. She moved to New Jersey, USA and assists her husband in the pharmaceutical business. They have three children: Tiffany, Priscilla, and Evelyn. She has a strong faith in her Hindu religion and makes regular pilgrimage trips to India.