She made her feature film debut with a brief role in the Hindi fantasy Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! Apte has since worked in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi-language films.
Radhika Apte belongs to a Marathi family of doctors. Her father, Charudutt Apte is the chairman of Sahyadri Hospital and is the high operating surgeon in Pune. She is married to Benedict Taylor.

Radhika Apte gathered widespread praise for her supporting work in three of her 2015 Bollywood productions including the thriller Badlapur, the comedy Hunterrr, and the biographical film Manjhi – The Mountain Man. Her leading roles in the 2016 independent films Phobia and Parched earned her further acclaim.

Apte also starred in three Netflix productions—the anthology film Lust Stories, the thriller series Sacred Games, and the horror miniseries Ghoul. She has also played small roles in films like Lai Bhaari a Marathi movie, Kabali the Tamil movie starring Rajnikant, Padman, and Andhadhun all of which were commercially successful.

Apte is actively involved with theatre and has been part of several stage plays, mostly in the Marathi language. She is associated with Mohit Takalkar’s theatre troupe Aasakta Kalamanch in her hometown and has acted in plays like Tu, Purnaviram, Matra Ratra and Samuel Beckett’s That Time with Rehan Engineer.

She molds herself upon the role given but, she loves doing grey roles rather than typical glamorous roles. Apte is a very hardworking actress. She is an exceptional actor as well. But we feel she is not given enough credit. Though her work in theatre has grabbed enough attention, her work in Bollywood is not yet giving her the attention she deserves.