Jayaram was born on 10 December 1965 to a Tamil family as the second among three children of late Subramaniyam and late Thankam at Perumbavoor, Kerala. Malayalam writer Malayattoor Ramakrishnan is Jayaram's maternal uncle. He did his primary education at Government Boys High School, Perumbavoor. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Sree Sankara College, Kalady.
He also did a graduate course in Chenda from the National Institute of Ulsavam Sciences & Technology, Thrissur. He became a medical representative soon after college and later joined the Kalabhavan institute and learned and performed mimicry on a number of stages, which paved his way to the Malayalam film industry.
At the age of 22, he was introduced into the cinema field by script writer and filmmaker Padmarajan in the 1988 film Aparan. Padmarajan became his mentor in his film career till the former's death in January 1991. He became one of the Superstars of the Malayalam film industry through the film Meleparambil Aanveedu that released in 1993, directed by Rajasenan. The film was a commercial success and ran for over 200 days in theatres. His on-screen chemistry with actress Shobana worked well in films Innale, Meleparambil Aanveedu and Dhwani.
He is noted for playing in Kamal's films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the early 90s he acted in Bharathan's Keli and Malootty. He acted in a leading role along with Mammootty and Suresh Gopi in Joshi's Dhruvam, 1993 film. He has acted in several of Sathyan Anthikkad's films like Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu, Artham, Thalayanamanthram, Sandesham and Thooval Kottaram was a commercial success, that continued their success combination for films like - Irattakuttikalude Achan, Veendum Chila Veettukaryangal , Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal, Yathrakarude Sradhakku, Manassinakkare , Bhagya Devatha and Kadha Thudarunnu.
He also forayed into Tamil cinema including roles in Gokulam, Purushalakshanam, Priyanka, Kolangal, Murai Mamman and Pathini. He played comedy roles of Dr Kailash and Ayyappan Nair in the Kamal Haasan-starred Thenali and Panchathanthiram which were also dubbed into Telugu.In 2008, he made a comeback after a series of commercial flops with Veruthe Oru Bharya, which was both critical and commercial success at the box office and ran over 100 days in theatres. He then acted in commercial films like Sathyan Anthikkad's Bhagyadevatha, Happy Husbands, Kadha Thudarunnu. He also acted in Sanskrit movie Namo. He recently appeared in Ala Vaikunta Puram Lo, a blockbuster hit of 2020. He played an important role in the Pan Indian tamil film, Ponniyin Selvan.
In 2011, the Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country for his contributions towards the Indian film industry. Jayaram married actress Parvathy on 7 September 1992. The couple have a son Kalidas Jayaram who is an
actor as well as winner of the National Film Award for Best Child Artist in 2003 for his second movie Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum.
