Ashutosh Rana was born in the Gadarwara district of Madhya Pradesh on November 10, 1967. He displayed an interest in acting from an early age, and used to take part in local Ramleela productions, playing the role of Ravana which set the stage for the recognition he would receive later in life for his portrayal of negative characters. After his college education at Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Madhya Pradesh, Rana moved to Delhi where he attended the National School of Drama. On the advice of his much revered guru, Rana followed his time in Delhi with a move to Mumbai, where he made his on-screen debut in Mahesh Bhatt’s television serial Swabhimaan (1995 – 1997).

In the following years, he worked on a number of film and television projects, but he finally made his mark in the film industry with his hard-hitting role as a murderer in the film Dushman (1998). He solidified his repute the following year with another memorable and well-appreciated performance with a negative role in Sangharsh (1999). He won the Screen Weekly Awards in 1999 for the Best Performance in a Negative Role for Dushman (1998), and the Zee Cine Awards in 2000 for the Best Villain for Sangharsh (1999). He won the Filmfare Awards for the Best Villain for both these movies too.

Following his success, Rana continued his acting career with many projects in Hindi film and television, as well as in Kannada, Telugu and Marathi cinema. Some of his prominent works include Raaz (2002), LOC: Kargil (2003), Kalyug (2005), and, incidentally, the animated film Ramayana: The Epic (2010) – for which Rana once again returned to the role of Ravana. He also occasionally worked as a television presenter on reality shows like Baazi Kiski (2001) and Sarkaar Ki Duniyaa (2009).

Rana gave his career a refreshing boost by appearing in Karan Johar’s production Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014). “People associate me with negative and intense roles. They weren’t expecting me to appear in a light, breezy rom-com like Humpty…” he said. Despite his general association with negative roles, Rana has played an assortment of good and bad characters even before this 2014 project, and has pointed out that he tries to avoid repetition in his work and looks out for new and challenging roles at every step.

Rana continues to act balance his work in film, television as well as theatre. “There isn't much difference in working for television or film or theatre. It's just a medium wherein one has to perform from within and if the performance is not genuine it will fall flat … it's best to keep practicing acting through whatever medium possible."