As her mother was not her father's official wife, Latha's status within the family was considered illegitimate.
Latha's fluency in both Tamil and Telugu stemmed from her mother's origin in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.
[6][7] Sethupathi has been featured in over a hundred films, spanning the Tamil-, Telugu-, and Malayalam-language cinemas.
M.G Ramachandran recommended her for the role alongside Akkineni Nageswara Rao for Andala Ramudu (1973), marking her debut in Telugu films.
She was also briefly involved in politics, following her father Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi, the Raja of Ramnad.
In 2002, she played a mother-in-law role in the Telugu television series Eenati Ramayanam,[10] Pavithrabandham, and Matti Manishi.