The cinema of Karnataka, sometimes colloquially referred to as ''Sandalwood'' and as Chandanavana in Kannada, is a South Indian film industry in the Indian state of Karnataka based in Bangalore. Today more than 100 films are made every year. A handful of the movies are released in the USA, Australia, Germany, UK and other countries. Efforts to further expand its market have met with some success. A total of 650 cinema theatres in Karnataka gives great scope for the cinema industry.

In 1934, the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana, appeared in theatres, followed by Bhakta Dhruva (aka Dhruva Kumar).

Both Sati Sulochana and Bhakta Dhruva were major successes. Sati Sulochana was shot in Kolhapur at the Chatrapathi studio; most filming, sound recording, and post-production was done in Chennai. It was difficult, as well, to find financial backing for new film projects in the region; thus, very few movies in Kannada were released during the early years of Indian sound cinema.

Gubbi Veeranna could be considered the doyen of Kannada cinema during the mid to late forties. In 1949, Honnappa Bhagavathar who had earlier acted in Gubbi Veeranna's films, produced Bhaktha Kumbara and starred in the lead role along with Pandaribai. In 1955, Honnappa Bhagavathar again produced a Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa in which he introduced B. Saroja Devi.

Ramesh Bhat is a multiple-award–winning Indian actor in the Kannada film industry, known for comedy and drama roles.

Being a close associate of Shankar Nag, Ramesh Bhat made his entry into Kannada Cinema as a senior police officer in Shankar Nag's Minchina Ota. Ramesh Bhat has acted in movies such as Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige, Ganeshana Maduve, Ganesha Subramanya and many others. He is mostly sought for support roles. He is also very famous for the portrayal of an eccentric colonel in the very popular television serial in the 90's called 'Crazy Colonel'. He is a very versatile actor. He is also a method actor. He was the assistant director for the famous television series Malgudi Days. He has also directed a movie named Parameshi Prema Prasanga which was nominated for the National Awards in 1983.

Ramesh Bhat has been described as a gem of Indian cinema in full page advertisements in several Kannada movie magazines.

Prajwal Devaraj, (Kannada: ಪ್ರಜ್ವಲ್ ದೇವರಾಜ್; born 4th July), is an Indian film actor who mainly works in Kannada film industry.

Prajwal is the son of a famous yesteryear Kannada actor Devaraj who is popularly called as "Dynamic Hero" in the film circles.He has a younger brother, Pranam Devaraj. Prajwal completed his bachelor degree course from Shri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, Center for Management Studies, Bangalore.

He was introduced to Kannada films by the movie, 'Sixer' in 2007 and later in an action packed film 'Geleya'. While 'Sixer' did an average business, 'Geleya' brought him a lot of acclaim for his acting skills. The film however did not fare very well at the box office. He kept on working in a slew of films one after another which boosted his star status sans the films' performance at the box office.His popularity has increased after the success of his latest movie 'Bhadra', his biggest success so far.

Radhika Pandit (Konkani: राधिका पंडित, Kannada: ರಾಧಿಕಾ ಪಂಡಿತ್) is an Indian film and television actress who appears in Kannada films, mostly performing lead characters. Making her feature film debut in the 2008 film Moggina Manasu, she has been receiving notable critical praise for her performances, receiving three successive Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. and went on to appear in several commercially successful films, establishing herself as a leading contemporary actress of Kannada cinema.

Radhika Pandit born on 7 March, hails from a Konkani-speaking community of Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin near Uttara Kannada district. She studied in Cluny Covent High School and Mount Carmel College and currently resides near Devaiah Park, Bangalore.

She acted in two Kannada tele-serials, "Nandagokula" and "Sumangali", before starting a career as a film actress. Radhika Pandit made her feature film debut in Moggina Manasu, which rendered her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Kannada in 2008 as well as the Karnataka State Film Award for 2008-09. She again won the Filmfare Award in 2009 for her performance in the film Love Guru and went on to win a third Filmfare Award at 2010 ceremony as well for her performance in Krishnan Love Story. She's the only actress among the current crop of actresses to have claimed back to back Filmfare Awards making it three years in a row.

Rangayana Raghu is a comic actor in the Kannada film industry.

Before beginning his career in film, he was an artist in Rangayana, Mysore. He acted in minor roles in movies like Megha banthu Megha(Priest), Arya bhata(Police inspector)etc. His major breakbrough was Yograj Bhat's debut directorial venture Mani. Sudeep starer "Dum" too gave him a stand in the industry.

Rangayana Raghu is best noted for his performance in the 2007 film Duniya which starred Vijay. He also got the Karnataka State Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same movie. He went on to act in several movies including Gaalipata, Junglee, Milana. He also acted in Paramathma (2011), which was directed by Yograj Bhat.