Anant Nag is a prolific Indian actor, who is known for his parallel performances in the Kannada cinema.Having spent most of his childhood in Shirali, Bhatkal taluk, Karnataka, he did his primary and middle schooling at a catholic school in Ajjarkad, Udupi, Ananda Ashrama in Dakshina Kannada, and Chitrapur Math in Uttara Kannada districts of the Mysore State (now Karnataka). He was good at academics and mostly stood in the first five top scorers of his class.He studied at New English School, Honnavar till the 8th standard after which he was sent to Mumbai by his father for further studies.Anant did not like the change when he relocated to Mumbai. He recounted his early life in Mumbai in an interview and said, I did short skits in school after which there was a gap. I felt lost in Bombay. I was hardly 11 when I was sent there. It was a culture shock having grown up in a mutt . I went into a shell because of the shift from Kannada to English medium. I failed in my 10th exams. I was miserable food and culture-wise. I wondered why my father had sent me to this naraka . I would sink into the shadows if I spotted someone familiar lest they ask me about my exam results. I strayed into acting. It was while distributing wedding cards for my sisters wedding that someone suggested acting in a play because I was good looking. I gave it a shot..He joined a commerce college in Bandra following which he worked in the Union Bank for three years by getting the job under the theatre quota.Anant was initially noticed by prominent theater personalities Prabhakar Mudur and Venkatrao Talageri.In his first performance, he played the part of a Hindu monk in the play Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which was highly appreciated and loved by the audience.Eventually, he got offers for Konkani, Kannada, and Marathi-language plays, which he did until he turned 22.He became highly drawn to the theatre movement of Mumbai.He also collaborated with popular playwrights like K.K. Suvarna and Girish Karnad during his theatre days.