Being a part of R.S.Manohar's drama troupe from the age of 5, Ramesh Khanna is a Tamil actor, director and writer, who as a child artist had acted in more than 1000 dramas by the age of 10. Early on in his career, Ramesh was appreciated by the then President of India, Dr. Radhakrishnan and the Revolutionary Poet, Bharathidasan. From acting he turned his attention towards filmmaking and went on to assist prominent directors like Kodi Ramakrishna, Karaikudi Narayanan, Pandiarajan, Vikraman and K.S.Ravikumar.

Ramesh made his acting debut in 1985 with Pandiarajan's epic comedy, Aan Paavam. In 1989 he directed his first movie, Kakka Kadi, with Pandiarajan as the lead actor. On the acting front, Ramesh acted in movies like Muthu (1995), Amarkalam (1999), Padaiyappa (1999), Friends (2001), Panchathanthiram (2002), Saamy (2003), Sau Jhooth Ek Sach (2004), Keerthi Chakra (2006), Dasavatharam (2008), Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), Delhi Belly (2011), Kochadaiiyaan (2014) and Vaigai Express (2017). In 1999 Ramesh directed his second movie, Thodarum with Ajith Kumar, Devayani and Heera playing the lead roles. He wrote the story for Suriya starrer, Aadhavan (2010) and was the dialogue writer on movies like Muni (2007) and Nam Naadu (2007). In 2017 Ramesh worked on the screenplay and wrote dialogues for director Siddique's action-comedy, Bhaskar Oru Rascal. The movie is a remake of the Malayalam movie, Bhaskar the Rascal (2015). Earlier, Ramesh was a part of the original Malayalam movie.