The versatile author-actor-administrator Girish Raghunath Karnad was born on 19 May 1938, in Matheran, Maharashtra. His initial schooling was in Marathi.

Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada and an actor in Hindi and Tamil cinema. He has also translated some of his own works into English.

Karnad's rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, similar to Badal Sircar's influence on Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar's on Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh on Hindi theatre. As a youngster, Karnad was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theatre in his village. He earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Mathematics and Statistics, from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnatak University), in 1958. Karnad then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar (1960-63), earning his  Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and economics.

After working with the Oxford University Press, Chennai, for seven years (1963-70), he resigned to take to writing full-time. While in Chennai he joined the amateur theatre group, The Madras Players. He served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974-1975) and chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and the National Academy of the Performing Arts (1988-93).

Karnad's  plays, written in Kannada, have been translated into English and some Indian languages. Hayavadana, Tughlaq, and Agni Mattu Male have been some of his famous works.

Some of his famous Kannada movies include Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Cheluvi and Kaadu. His Hindi movies include Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), Swami (1977) and Pukar (2000). His awards and titles include the Jnanpith award, Sangeet Natak Akademi award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, the Sahitya Akademi award, and the Kalidas Samman. Karnad is married to Dr. Saraswathy Ganapathy and they have two children. He lives in Bangalore.