Sunil Rao comes from a family of well-known musicians. His mother B. K. Sumitra, is a prominent Sugama Sangeetha (light music) singer. His sister Sowmya Raoh is also an established playback singer who has performed for various films in different languages. He was also interested in playback singing and entered the film industry aspiring to be one. But he had to change his path towards acting since offers came pouring ever since he was a child. He has a love for big cars, good music and swanky music systems apart from long driving. He studied at National College, Jayanagar and lives in Bangalore, India.