Anushka Shetty was born in a Bunt family of Bellipady in Mangalore. She was graduated in Computer Applications from Mt. Carmel College Bangalore. Passionate about Yoga, Anushka Shetty learnt Yoga during her college days and later became a Yoga instructor.

During her Yoga classes, Anushka got in touch with director E Nivasm who referred Anushka to Puri Jagannath for the movie Super (2005) and this marked the debut of Anushka Shetty in movies. Her subsequent film Mahanadi (2006) was a failure, but she bounced back with Vikramarkudu in the same year. Vikramarkudu was a smash hit and Anushka started eyeing top slot in the Telugu movie industry.

Anushka also did an item number in Chiranjeevi starrer Stalin. Anushka Shetty even made her Tamil movie debut at this point of time. Lakshyam and Don (2007) were below average movies, but Anushka was heaped praises for her performance. Okka Magadu, Swagatham, Baladoor, Souryam and Chintakalaya Ravi did lend any commercial success for Anushka. However, her King movie starring Nagarjuna brought Anushka Shetty some relief.

2009 was a historic year for Anushka as Arundathi hit the marquee. Arundathi movie elevated Anushka’s range and has place her right on top with other heroines. The movie turned out to be one of the best in Telugu cinema history in terms of collections.

Anushka created waves by appearing in bikini in the movie Billa (2009). This brought great craze for the movie, but it was a failure at the box office.

In 2010, Anushka Shetty enacted in Kedi, Vedam, Panchakshari, Kaleja, Nagavalli,, etc and all movies were either average or failures. But Anushka has managed to sustain her own image by lending glamour to these movies. She has even retained the top spot for leading actresses in Telugu cinema.