She was born on 18 December 1986 to a Punjabi Hindu father and a Bihari mother. Her father owns a management firm and her mother is a professor at PGDAV College of Delhi University, who has authored two books and also works with Gandhi Smriti.

Chadda was brought up in Delhi, India. After completing her schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in 2002, she took a Diploma in Social Communication Media from [St. Stephen's College, delhi]].

Chadda made her acting debut in a supporting role as Dolly in Dibakar Banerjee-directed 2008 film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN described her as a "revelation " in the film. She appeared in the 2010 comedy film Benny and Babloo as Fedora. Taran Adarsh reviewing for Bollywood Hungama stated that Chadda "stand[s] out with confident portrayal" and Komal Nahta from Koimoi stated that she lend[s] "fine support" in the film. In the meanwhile, a Kannada movie in which she had acted, titled Nirdoshi was released in 2010 after a delay of almost 3 years.

In 2012, she played a pivotal role in Anurag Kashyap's crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1. The plot (spanning 50 years) tells a story of power struggles, politics and vengeance among three crime families. She stated in an interview that this role as 'Nagma Khatoon' helped her get 11 film roles. The film premiered at the 65th Cannes Film Festival and she was universally praised for her performance. Taran Adrash found Chadda "simply brilliant from the very inception". Mansha Rastogi of Now Running said "Chadda brings a perfect blend of the strength and helplessness of a woman in the yesteryears". She reprised her role as Nagma Khatoon in the sequel Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2. The film premiered in the Cannes Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival with its prequel. According to Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India "Chadda holds fort in the sequel too, strong and poised, she's fab", and Taran Adarsh stated she "fetches dignity to her character". Chadda received a Filmfare Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category and won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.

After that, she reprised her role as Bholi Punjaban in Fukrey Returns, a much-awaited sequel to 2013 film Fukrey. Just like its prequel, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics and became a huge commercial success, grossing more than 70 crore in just 12 days. The film has become the highest grossing film of Chadda. Umesh Punwani of Koimoi.com describes Richa's performance as ''Richa Chadha retains the swag and is as badass as she was in the first one. Her unconventional chemistry with Varun Sharma shines brighter in this one taking forward the dreamy pair of Choocha-Bholi.''

In 2014, she posed as a mermaid for a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ad campaign, encouraging people to avoid eating fish and to go vegetarian. The same year, she walked the ramps of Lakme Fashion Week and performed in a play called Trivial Disasters. Although she appeared in PETA ads supporting vegetarianism, she opposed the beef ban in Indian state of Maharashtra.

In 2015, Richa Chadda represented India at the 18th Marrakech International Film Festival. The festival representatives invited her as a Jury member alongside Hollywood film-maker and Screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola, the President of the Marrakech Film Festival.

In January 2016, Chadda appeared as a Journalist in social-drama Chalk n Duster. Gayatri Gauri of Firstpost remarked ''Richa Chadda, in a supporting role as a news anchor, looks equally uncomfortable. In an effort to add aunthenticity, she is given a Gujarati dialogue, which only adds to the actor’s apparent discomfort.''

In 2017, Richa acted in an Indian web-series Inside Edge, playing the lead character of a struggling Actress. The series was positively received by both critics and audience. In the same year, Jia Aur Jia was released. The film received unfavorable reviews from critics and did not perform well at box office too.

Richa Chadda talks about ‘HER’ kind of cinema after Masaan release- "People ask me what kind of cinema I ‘represent’, don’t know the answer to that. All I know is that I want to be a part of change in Indian cinema. Just a tiny dent."

She later appeared in Sarbjit, a biographical-drama film based upon the life of Sarabjit Singh. She portrayed the role of Sukhpreet, and share screen alongside Aishwarya Rai and Randeep Hooda. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a moderate commercial success. Surabhi Redkar from Koimoi.com praised Chadda's performance and said ''Richa Chadha as Sukhpreet, the wife does a fabulous job. She hardly speaks but emotes extremely powerfully with her eyes. As a wife longing for her husband’s return, she is spot on.''