Tanya Maniktala, who was born and brought up in Delhi, completed her graduation in English Literature from Shivaji College in New Delhi in the year 2018. Tanya's acting career was set into motion through the street plays that she did for 'Vayam', the theatrical society of her college. In the year 2017, The Viral Fever's Delhi office, called TVF Rajdhani, was making a web series to be released on their YouTube channel, 'The Timeliners', and the creators were looking for a young girl to play the role of 'Ishita' when they came across Tanya's street play, and approached her for an audition through Shivam Kakar, who was Tanya's neighbour and was also doing street plays for the theatrical society of his college. Initially Tanya refused the role because she was already in trouble for short attendance in her college and also the final exams were close by. When she told her elder sister about this incident, she was surprised by her decision and convinced Tanya to not let go of this opportunity. So eventually Tanya went for the audition and got selected for the role of Ishita in Flames (2018).

Although Tanya received a lot of love and warmth from the viewers after the release of her debut show, it did not however open any doors of opportunity for her. Despite giving a number of auditions, nothing materialized on the work front for her, and as a result of that, she decided to give up acting and took up the job of a copywriter at an advertising firm in Gurgaon, Haryana. Her breakthrough moment happened in the year 2019, when she received a call from a college friend, who was now working at a casting agency, about auditions taking place for Mira Nair's A Suitable Boy (2020), the official adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel, to be broadcast on BBC One and Netflix. After multiple rounds of auditions with casting director Dilip Shankar and director Mira Nair herself, Tanya was informed that she had been finalized for the role of 'Lata', the main lead of the show.

In June 2021, Tanya Maniktala was selected as one of the ten participants of the first BAFTA Breakthrough India initiative.