Kiran started modeling while attending college. He made his debut in Tollywood his mentor, filmmaker turned director Teja in 2000 with the film Chitram, in which he played the 17-year-old main character.

The film, followed by two others, and Nuvvu Nenu Manasantha Nuvve, has made him one of the few Telugu film actors to deliver three films straight wins. His performance as a young hot blood in Nuvvu Nenu earned him the Actor Filmfare Best Award (Telugu) in 2001.

In his fourth film, Kalusukovalani, it displays his dancing skills through songs, "Udayinchina" and "Cheliya Cheliya" .In his fifth film, Sreeram he ventured into a story of a young aspiring facing a top cop to action. 2002 saw Nee Sneham another blockbuster year for which he was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actor (Telugu) for the second time.

In 2005, he ventured with the Tamil film directed by Poi K.Balachander. He then made two more films, Vambu Sandai and Pen Singam Tamil, the latter being the story written by M. Karunanidhi, who did moderately well at the box office.

Kiran committed suicide on January 5, 2014.  It would have hanged himself inside his apartment in Srinagar colony, Punjagutta, Hyderabad.There are rumors in the city that celebrates film actor Chiranjeevi and Uday Kiran do not share a good relationship. Commitment of Uday had been canceled with the daughter of Chiranjeevi before. Kiran had suffered from depression due to the financial crisis in almost a year. A district attorney in Hyderabad has filed a complaint with the Commission of Human Rights against an undisclosed movie personalities of the Telugu film industry discrimination against Uday Kiran.

On January 6, 2014, the body of Uday Kiran was kept in Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce and several film personalities, including D Rama Naidu, Dasari Narayana Rao, Venkatesh, D Suresh Babu, Srikanth, Shivaji , Tanikella Bharani, Chalapathi Rao, Tammareddy Bharadwaja, (Ex) MLA Jaya Sudha, Parachuri Gopalakrishna, Parachuri Venkateshwara Rao, Shivaji Raja Anup Reubens, Samadra, Kadambari Kiran, Sunil, Anita Chowdary and Banerjee were among those who paid their last tributes to the actor, before being taken to the cremation grounds. agitated fans Uday Kiran raised slogans against the Minister of Chiranjeevi union cremation grounds Erragadda in Hyderabad. According to the PA police, a young fan of Uday Kiran committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree at the junction Komatapalli subdivision Bobbili in Vizianagaram.