Chowdhury was born in Ulpur, East Bengal (now Bangladesh) into a Zamindari family, and graduated from the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata, in 1956.
Influenced by Indian sculptors like Prodosh Dasgupta as well as Western greats like Rodin, Roy Chowdhury found his inspiration in Hindustani classical music.
His sculptures feature a unique mix of the academic realism of the East and the more innovative cubism and abstraction of the West.
Over the years he has exhibited his works at several group and solo shows, the latest of which was a retrospective entitled Sensibility Objectified: The Sculptures of Sarbari Roy Choudhury held in May 2009 in New Delhi.
A book, Sensibility Objectified: The Sculptures of Sarbari Roy Choudhury, by historian R. Siva Kumar, was also released.