Bora was born to Sri Gakul Chandra Bora and Premolata Bora, in Kacholukhowa village, Nagaon, Assam. He did his primary schooling in Marikalang Prathamik Vidyalaya. As a child he used to take part in Navajyoti Sangha Maina Parijat, a weekly children's cultural meet, near his village. He was taught the nuances of Bhaonai kela, the traditional Assamese drama, as a child.

He completed his schooling at Dawson Higher Secondary and Multi Purpose School and began his college education from the Nagaon GNDG Commerce College, later graduating from Nowgong College.

His first stage performance was Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s Mukti when he was a student of class V.

Bora is a diploma holder in Fine Arts from the Kallol Art School in Nagaon. He learned music from childhood, and is a ‘Visharad’ in tabla. He was trained in Assamese classical Sattriya dance by Rabin Chandra Das of Nagaon, and performed in Bhaonas during his childhood. In these Sattriya ekankika naats and the locally-organized "Raas" festivals, he was often selected to play the role of Krishna.

Although he had a minor role in Kolahal, his first professional film, Jatin Bora officially debuted in Uttarkaal (1989) (opposite Moloya Goswami). The movie was successful, and Jatin became a star of the Assamese cinema.

After Uttarkal, Bora acted in several plays for Doordarshan. He featured in the teleserials Biju Phukan’s Deuta, Chandra Talukdar’s Namgharia, Birina Paator Anguthee, Jones Mahalia's Pratighat, Surangor Majere, and Ghat-Pratighat.

In 1993 he had a role in the film I Killed Him Sir.

He joined Hengul Theatre in 1994. In the following year he got an offer from Abahon Theatre, then directed by Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia and Munin Barua, for the 1995-96 season. He continues to be actively involved in Assamese moving theatre industry. Presently he is acting in Kohinoor Theatre. He acted in their plays written for Abahon. Later, Dr Bhabedranath Saikia cast him for his first and only Hindi film Kaal Sandhya.

He was commercially successful in Munin Barua's film Hiya Diya Niya, opposite debutante Luna Lahkar. The best known songs of the movie were "Nohole porichoy" and "Mitha Mitha Aji Xopunote" by Zubeen Garg.

After that he appeared in back to back many films of Munin Barua, like Nayak, Kanyadaan, Daag etc. In Kanyadaan (opposite Rashami Desai) he acted along with Mridula Baruah and Chetana Das. He also had performances in the films Nayak (a love triangle with co-stars Zerifa Wahid and Ravi Sharma), Suren Suror Putek, Kadambari etc.

In 2003, he appeared in Munin Barua's highly acclaimed film Bidhata, which was said to be an Assamese adaptation of the Bollywood movie Anand.

He began his directorial career in 2006 with a film called Adhinayak (opposite Nishita Goswami). This film was extensively shot in Barapani, Cherrapunji and in and around Guwahati.

Awards

Bora won the Jyotirupa Joint Media Award for Excellence in Film Television & Music (for Hiya Diya Niya, Nayak, Bidhata, Maa tumi Ananya, Suren Suror Putek), Natasurya Phani Sarma Award (a government of Assam award for Juwe Pura Xun), NE TV people's choice for Kadambari and Maa tumi Ananya, Prag Cine award for Kadambari, Moonlight media award for Hiya Diya Niya, Nayak, Kanyadaan and Bidhata.

On October 25, 2002, Bora married Navanita Sharma, a singer (trained under Sudesh Wadkar, Mumbai) and actress from Nagaon. They have a son and a daughter: Drishan and Aastha.