Ashwath's acting began when he started participating in radio plays produced by Mysore All India Radio. His theatre career thus took off and played major roles in plays of
A. N. Murthy Rao, Parvathavani and others. Film director
K. Subramanyam, who saw him in one of these plays, selected him for a role in
Streerathna in 1956, which was Ashwath's debut as a film actor. He was associated with a theatre group
shripita . In 1960, he played the role of a
Swami in
Kittur Chennamma with
B. Saroja Devi in the lead role. In the same year, he played
Narada in the hit
Bhakta Prahlada. His role in
Gali Gopura gave him an edge and helped shape his career as an artiste of immense calibre. Ashwath then got a role in the English film
Seven Wonders of the World and even became the first Kannada actor to appear in a
colour film. Several of his films became big hits. His character role in
Naagarahaavu as Chamayya meshtru (i.e., Chamayya Teacher) is still remembered and emulated. Another performance in the film
Gange Gauri as Narada (the mythological son of Lord Vishnu) is remarkable in the style, rendering in his inimitable style. He accepted the roles of a father to many co-artistes of around his age as long as the character he was playing was strong. In all, he appeared in 370 films, of which 98 came in supportive roles in films with
Rajkumar as the lead actor. ==Death==