Preity was born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh into a Rajput family from Rohru in Shimla district. Her father, Durganand Zinta, was an officer in the Indian Army. He died in a car accident when she was 13 years old; the accident also involved her mother, Nilprabha, who was severely injured and remained bedridden for two years.She has two brothers, Deepankar and Manish, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish lives in Los Angeles.
Zinta, who describes herself as a tomboy as a child, was influenced primarily by her father. Her father emphasized discipline and punctuality to the children. She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary boarding school in Shimla. Although she confesses to loneliness in the boarding school, she would later say that it was compensated by her finding a "... perfect set of friends" there. As a student, she developed a love for literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare and poetry. According to Zinta, she enjoyed schoolwork and received good grades; in her free time she played sports, particularly basketball.
Upon graduating from the boarding school at age 18, Zinta enrolled at St Bede's College in Shimla. She initially majored in English honours, but later pursued an advanced programme in psychology. She earned a degree in criminal psychology, but later took up modelling. Zinta's first commercial was for Perk chocolates, the result of a chance meeting with a director at a friend's birthday party in 1996. The director persuaded Zinta to audition for the spot, and she was selected. Afterwards, she appeared in other catalogs and commercials, including one for the soap Liril.
