She is known of her role in her debut Tamil film Karakattakkaran (1989).
[1][2] She is also the great-granddaughter of Telugu cinema pioneer, Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu.
She started her career as a heroine in the Tamil movie Karakattakkaran, directed by Gangai Amaran, a blockbuster movie which ran more than a year.
[3] Kanaka acted in many Tamil movies, including Periya Veetu Pannakkaran (1990), Athisaya Piravi (1990), Samundi (1992), Periya Kudumbam (1995) and Viralukketha Veekkam (1999).
She has acted in more than 50 films in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu in a span of 10 years.