Sunil Rao comes from a family of well-known musicians. His mother B. K. Sumitra, is a prominent Sugama Sangeetha singer. His sister Sowmya Raoh is also an established playback singer who has performed for various films in different languages. He was also interested in playback singing and entered the film industry aspiring to be one. But he had to change his path towards acting since offers came pouring ever since he was a child. He has a love for big cars, good music and swanky music systems apart from long driving. He studied at National College, Jayanagar and lives in Bangalore, India.
Career
As a child artist
Rao started his career as a child artiste in the year 1987 for the films such as Kendada Male and Elu Suttina Kote. He performed his roles much to the attention of producers and went on acting in a few more films.
Television artist
Rao, aspiring to be a playback singer, re-entered the industry in his teens. But he was noticed by small screen producers and they cast him in many daily series such as Janani, Saadhane, Manvantara and Chaduranga. These performances made him a starlet and was noticed by the film industry
Films
Sunil Rao began his film career acting in some non-significant character roles in the films such as Chitra and Panchaalee. However, he shot to fame in the 2003 released Hinglish film Freaky Chakra. He starred alongside Deepti Naval as a young boy infatuated by an older woman. He also starred as a teenage lover in the Kavita Lankesh directorial Preethi Prema Pranaya opposite Anu Prabhakar, the same year. Then came his most successful Kannada filmExcuse Me where he played an anti-hero character alongside Ajay Rao and Ramya. In 2005, he starred in a series of unsuccessful films like Chappale, Masala and Sakha Sakhi. The latter was a remake of the Tamil hit Thiruda Thirudi. Most of his films during this time featured him alongside other male lead characters. Sakha Sakhi was an exception to this. In 2006, he starred in the critically acclaimed Belli Betta directed by Shivaraj Hoskere. He also appeared as one of the lead characters in the film Jackpot. Following these ventures, Rao became choosy and featured in very few films in the late 2000s. His only release in 2008 was his cameo appearance in the film Tajmahal. Minugu opposite Pooja Gandhi was his solo release in the year 2010. Noted film makerSunil Kumar Desai announced a film called Sarigama in 2008 with Rao and Prajwal Devaraj in the lead. This film, expected to have a 2012 release got shelved due to unknown reasons. Reports of him coming back to acting after a hiatus made news with his longtime associate director announcing his project called Bangalore Calling. It reported that Sunil would play one of the three main lead roles.
Filmography
Year of Release
Film
Notes
1987
Elu Suttina Kote
As child artist
1987
Kendada Male
As child artist
1991
Readymade Ganda
As child artist
1991
Shanti Kranti
As child artist
1992
Mysore Jaana
As child artist
2001
Chithra
2003
Panchaali
2003
Freaky Chakra
English film
2003
Excuse Me
2003
Preethi Prema Pranaya
2004
Baa Baaro Rasika
2005
Masaala
2005
Chappale
2005
Sakha Sakhi
2006
Belli Betta
2006
Jackpot
2008
Tajmahal
2010
Minugu
2010
Premism
Guest appearance
2018
Thurthu Nirgamana
Web series
Awards
He has been awarded the 'Roopakala Belli Kanmani Award' as a 'Naada shreshta Kalavida' by the 'Roopakala Utsava-25' linked with the Karnataka State in the year 2011
