Achyuth Kumar was born in Bangalore. He has acted in both Kannada and Tamil movies. He was trained in "Ninasam", a cultural organization committed to the development of drama, films and publishing, in the Shimoga district of Karnataka. He made his debut in the Kannada film 'Josh' in 2009. He is widely known for his spectacular performances in the Kannada films, Lucia and Sidlingu. However, he gained widespread critical acclaim and fame for his character as movie theatre owner Shankaranna in the super hit film Lucia, which made him an overnight star and bagged him prestigious Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actor. He is one of the tremendous performers in the emotional roles and character-based roles. He shot to fame and people started to notice his acting abilities from the super hit movie ‘Aa Dinagalu’ released in the year 2007, as underworld don Oil Kumar.

He predominantly worked in theatre before coming into movies. Prior to which he acted in a television soap opera for Girish Kasaravalli. Some of his successful serials were Moodala Mane and Preethi Illada Mele along with Anant Nag. Achyuth Kumar has acted in more than 20 films in the south Indian film industry such as Bachchan, Jatta, Ulidavaru Kandanthe, Kwatle Sathisa, Oggarane, Drishya, Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari etc.