Vinay Rajkumar was born into the family of actor and film producer Raghavendra and Mangala. He is the grandson of actor Rajkumar. He has a younger brother, Guru. Actors Shiva and Puneeth are his uncles. Vinay earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from St. Joseph's College of Commerce in Bangalore.

Vinay's grandfather, Rajkumar, first brought him on screen at the age of five in the film "Aakasmika" (1993). Vinay then appeared in "Odahuttidavaru" (1994), in his father's films "Anuragada Alegalu" (1993) and "Navibbaru Namagibbaru" (1993), as well as in his uncle Shiva's films "Om" (1995) and "Hrudaya Hrudaya" (1999).

Vinay studied and trained as an actor at "acting workshops with several people" before "training... in theatre". He subsequently trained in dance and martial arts with the trainers from his uncles' films.[6] In a 2012 interview with The Times of India, he said that he was "involved in the shooting [of his uncle Puneeth's film] 'Yaare Koogadali'", having already worked on the shooting of his previous film "Anna Bond" (2012).