Best known for essaying the female lead in the 1992 sports drama Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Ayesha Jhulka's Bollywood career spans well over three decades. She debuted as a child artist in the 1983 movie Kaise Kaise Log, and has since appeared in both leading and supporting roles in around 70 feature films.

In the early half of the '90s, the actress appeared in several popular movies like Khiladi (1992), Meherbaan (1993), Waqt Hamara Hai (1993) and Jai Kishen (1994), and was frequently paired opposite actors like Akshay Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty. Aamir Khan's Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), the Kamal Haasan starrer Chachi 420 (1997) and Run (2004) are some of the other notable movies she has appeared in.

Among Ayesha's more recent acting credits are Umrao Jaan (2006), ADA...A Way of Life (2010) and the 2018 action-thriller Genius.