Known for mostly playing comedic and character roles, Karunakaran is a popular actor in the south Indian film industry, especially in Tamil cinema. Born in New Delhi, Karunakaran grew up in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and graduated from the SASTRA University with a degree in chemical engineering. Before making it big in the film industry, he was an IT professional in Accenture. It was when his school friend, filmmaker Nalan Kumarswamy approached him to feature in a short film, he agreed to pursue acting. His roles in short films got the attention of popular actor and director Sundar C who gave him the big break in feature films and he got immediate attention with his brilliant performance in Pizza (2012) where the played the role of the lead actor, Vijay Sethupathi`s friend.

Karunakaran followed up the success of Pizza with yet another brilliant performance in Soodhu Kavvum (2013), which won him a maiden Vijay Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Post-2013, the actor got several offers and he has played mostly supporting roles in more than 30 films. Some of his notable film credits include Jigarthanda (2014), Nanbenda (2015), Gethu (2016), Iru Mugan (2016), Vivegam (2017), Semma Botha Aagathey (2018), Ghajinikanth (2018), Kadikara Manithargal (2018), Lakshmi (2018), Seethakaathi (2018), Podhu Nalan Karudhi (2019) and Jiivi (2019). His 2021 release includes Malaysia To Amnesia.