[3] Prior to acting in films, Devaraj performed in stage plays under the guidance of Shankar Nag and B. Jayashree.

[4] Devaraj was born on 20 September 1953 to Ramachandrappa and Krishnamma in Lingarajpuram, a locality in Bangalore, in the erstwhile Mysore State (now Karnataka).

In 1976 due to his family's financial problems Devaraj decided to work in a HMT Watch factory, Case & Dial Section, where he worked for 9 years, and it was suggested he should act in dramas by his senior colleague at HMT, Govindaraju.

After the year 2000, Devaraj switched over to character roles and debuted in Tamil and Telugu film industries.

He worked in highly acclaimed films such as Malaikottai and Villu in Tamil and Yagnam, Sri in Telugu.