Andi Mutiara Pertiwi Basro was born on June 11, 1990 in Jakarta. Her father works for an airline. Tara started her career in the entertainment industry when she joined the teen modeling competition Gadis Sampul in 2005. She then moved to Australia with her parents and continued her studies. Tara graduated from TAFE NSW.

Upon returning to Indonesia, she participated in many auditions for films but struggled to be cast. In 2011, Tara auditioned for a musical theatre where she met the casting director of her breakthrough film Catatan (Harian) Si Boy. She earned a nomination for Best Female Newcomer at the Indonesian Movie Awards. In 2012, she starred in an anthology horror film Hi5teria where she starred as the leading role of the segment “Pasar Setan”. The same year, she also starred in Rumah dan Musim Hujan, but released in 2018 under the title Hoax. In 2013, she played as the materialistic girlfriend of Pandji Pragiwaksono’s character in the film Make Money.

Tara had four film releases in 2014. Her first appearance was in a historical silat film The Golden Cane Warrior, where she starred as Gerhana. Then, she played a small part in Japanese-Indonesian action film Killers. She starred as a marine biologist in a romantic drama The Right One. Tara next starred in an anthology family film titled Princess, Bajak Laut & Alien.

Tara next starred in A Copy of My Mind, a film directed by Joko Anwar. It featured her as Sari, a cheap salon worker who falls in love with a pirated DVDs subtitle maker. It was screened during the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and 72nd Venice International Film Festival. She won the Citra Award for Best Leading Actress. In 2015, she also starred in two television series, HBO’s Halfworlds and NET.’s The East. In the former, also written and directed by Joko Anwar, she played as a demit or demon named Ros. In The East, she was cast as Mutia, the executive producer of a real life-inspired program Entertainment News.

In 2017, Tara starred in Joko Anwar’s horror Satan’s Slaves. It is a loose remake-cum-prequel to the 1980 film of the same name directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra. She starred as Rini, the oldest of four. The film has been watched by 4.2 million moviegoers, making it as the best-selling domestic Indonesian film of 2017. She was cast in Perempuan-Perempuan Chairil, a play inspired by the life of poet Chairil Anwar. She played as Sumirat, one of Anwar’s partner.

In 2018, she was cast as Kanti, a successful banker in Viu’s drama series Halustik.

In 2019, she was cast in two of Anwar’s films, Impetigore and Gundala.