Anushka Shetty was born in a Bunt family of Bellipady[3] in Mangalore. She did her schooling and college in Bangalore. She was also a Yoga Instructor and has trained under yoga guru Bharat Thakur.Her mother tongue is Tulu and she also speaks Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and English as well.
Shetty made her acting debut in Puri Jagannath's 2005 Telugu film Super alongside Akkineni Nagarjuna. The same year, she acted in another film Mahanandi, which was an unsuccessful venture. In 2006, she had four releases, the first being S. S. Rajamouli's Vikramarkudu opposite Raviteja, in which she portrayed the character Neeraja Goswami.