[2] He made his breakthrough as an actor by playing a supporting role in Kamal Haasan's Virumaandi (2004), before garnering acclaim for playing the lead role of Veerappan in the serial Sandhan Kaadu on Makkal TV.
[1] He subsequently appeared in two more popular Tamil films that year, Ghilli (2004) and Vasool Raja MBBS (2004).
Raja later appeared in films including Prabhu Deva's Pokkiri (2007) and the horror comedy, Ambuli (2012).
[7] He played the lead role of K. Chandrashekar Rao in the Telugu-language film Udyama Simham (2019).
[8][9] On television, Karate Raja notably portrayed the lead role of Veerappan in the serial Sandhana Kaadu on Makkal TV during 2008.