Reddy first appeared in ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas's "Aur Aahista" music video in 1997. Sameera was meant to make her debut as an actress in Saravana Subbiah's Tamil film Citizen, during early 2000s, but eventually did not feature. She caught the attention of Bollywood and was cast in a pivotal role in the 2002 Hindi film Maine Dil Tujhko Diya. In 2004, she appeared in Musafir, opposite Anil Kapoor, Aditya Pancholi and Koena Mitra.