Mandre was the third generation of a family with film connections. Her grandfather R. N. Mandre was a film distributor, as was her father Dayananda, who was also a car-racing enthusiast. Sharmila made her film debut with Sajni (2007), produced by her aunt Sunanda Murali Manohar.
Mandre had her first commercial success with the film Krishna opposite Ganesh. Her other films include Navagraha (2008), Venkata in Sankata (2009), and Swayamvara (2010).
