Theatre His first job after his M.Phil. was that of an English lecturer in National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. He continued to teach at MES College Bangalore as one of the most popular lecturers of the college. However, soon his passion for theatre took him abroad to train in acting at Mermaid Theatre, London. On returning home, he worked in Kannada theatre as part of the renowned B Jayashree's troupe "Spandana" and with the Shankar Nag as part of his "Sanketh" for many years.
Films Films were a natural choice for Avinash after his debut in
G. V. Iyer's
Madhvacharya (1986) based on the life and times of the twelfth-century enlightened master as the protagonist
Madhvacharya, a film that won several National and State Awards. His debut in mainstream cinema however, was with
Shivarajkumar's
Samyuktha (1988), which went in to become a hit with audiences, ushering him into the world of
South Indian Cinema. He has worked with more than 200 directors such as
K. Balachander,
Girish Kasaravalli,
T. N. Seetharam,
A. R. Murugadoss,
Puri Jagannadh,
P. Vasu,
Vetrimaaran,
Siva,
Suseenthiran,
Duniya Suri,
Prashanth Neel,
Gautham Vasudev Menon and
T. S. Nagabharana. His other notable performances were in
Girish Kasaravalli's
Dweepa (2002), in which he played the lead opposite
Soundarya,
T. S. Nagabharana's
Chinnari Mutha (1993) and
T. N. Seetharam's
Mathadana (2001), all three of which won
National Award. He also lists
Singaaravva (2003) and
Chigurida Kanasu (2003) among his most memorable films.
P. Vasu's hit horror series
Apthamitra (2004),
Chandramukhi (2005) and
Aptharakshaka (2010) were high points in his career.
5Ters, an experimental (computer graphics) children's film in Hindi gave him the opportunity of playing good and evil characters and he considers the film to be a high point of his career. Apart from his diverse repertoire, he has had the privilege of playing major roles alongside doyens such as
Rajkumar,
Vishnuvardhan,
Rajinikanth,
Mammootty, stars such as
Nagarjuna,
Nandamuri Balakrishna,
Venkatesh,
Shiva Rajkumar,
Vijay,
Ajith Kumar,
Vikram,
Suriya,
Puneeth Rajkumar,
Kiccha Sudeep,
Yash,
Arya,
Karthi,
Mahesh Babu,
Prithviraj Sukumaran and several of the younger stars of
South Indian Cinema. in 1998 Kannada serial
Mayamruga == Personal life ==