Suchitra is born to Karunakaran and Usha on 17 April 1975.She has a sister Sumitra and a brother Deepu Karunakaran who works as a director. She had her primary education from Holy Angel's Convent Trivandrum. Suchitra became a mainstream actress at a very young age when at the age of 14 she was cast as the heroine in the film No.20 Madras Mail. She left the industry at a relatively young age of 27 after her marriage to Murali in March 2002. The couple has a daughter Neha and are settled in U.S. She has opened a dance school there called "Naatya Graha Dance Academy".

Suchitra who at a very early age of 15 debuted as a heroine in the film No.20 Madras Mail did numerous films in Malayalam in the 90s mostly with heroes like Mammooty, Mohanlal , Mukesh, Jagadeesh, and Siddique. Such was her popularity among the youth that by the time she retired at the age of 27 she had already acted in 38 movies. She also acted in a handful of Tamil films. The 1991 release Gopura Vasalile, along with Karthik Muthuraman and Bhanupriya, was her most popular Tamil movie.

Suchitra is also a trained Indian Classical dancer. She was trained in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and Kuchipudi by Guru V. Mythili.

Though bulky in stature Suchitra was widely considered as one of the most beautiful Malayalam actress in the 90s. She was very popular among the youth during that time.

Suchitra was the Joint Secretary twice (1997-2000 & 2000-2003) in the AMMA. Her versatility and application during her tenure was well appreciated by the other members.^[4] Suchitra was also seen recently as a celebrity judge in episodes of the popular reality shows Idea Star Singer and Vodafone Comedy Stars both on Asianet. She also represented Kerala in the "Miss World Pageant" held in Bangalore in 1997. It has been also noticed by many that despite leaving the film industry in 2002 Suchitra has kept her beauty and charisma as before and even today she is still a crowd puller.

• Sambavami Yuge Yuge (Surya TV)