Malavika was born in Tamil family to N. Ganesan, a retired banker and writer, and Savithri, a vocalist and dancer. She was initiated into classical arts very early under the tutelage of Padmashree Leela Samson in Bharatanatyam and Pandit Partho Das on the Sitar. G.V. Iyer spotted her at a dance performance as Krishna and cast her as Krishna in his Krishnavataar. She then played a lead role as a princess in Prema Karanth's Panorama children's film Nakkalaa Raajakumaari.

She completed her graduation in Bachelor of Law at Bangalore University and was awarded 3rd rank.

Malavika's stint as child artist was followed by her entry into cinema as heroine in award-winning films in Malayalam for Lenin Rajendran and popular films in Kannada. Television however, turned out to be the medium that she faster adapted to. Her earlier television series have been for the distinguished Girish Karnad and Ashutosh Gowariker in Hindi, Ashok Naidu in Kannada, Dinesh Baboo in Malayalam. Her performance in Mayamruga catapulted her to an iconic status in the hearts of Kannada television viewers. Mayamruga's success caught the keen eyes of the legendary K. Balachander who then chose to usher her into the Tamil hearts across the world with Anni, where Malavika played the protagonist Anni. She currently stars in the Tamil serial Chellamey and hosts the popular show Baduku Jataka Bandi on Zee Kannada.

She is married to national and state award-winning actor Avinash. She has a son named galv.

Malavika's canvass in Tamil includes devout Raji in the immensely popular Rajarajeshwari and K. Balachander's Nilavai Pidippom where she portrayed the travails of a middle-class working woman, Pudhuyugam, Pralayam and a hilarious "Comedy Colony" again under the able guidance of her mentor Balachander. She shook the spines of her male and female counterparts as Madurai Thilaka in Arasi and now a sober and emotional Muththazhagi in Chellamey. She has also played key roles in some select films in Tamil.

Another milestone in Malavika's career has been her portrayal of Nanjamma, the protagonist in four-time national award winner Girish Kasaravalli's celluloid version of the eminent S.L. Bhyrappa's celebrated novel, Gruha Banga. In her decade of television acting, Malavika has played several roles in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi with great ease and wide critical acclaim. A cross-over film titled Cyanide, a story of the last 18 days that the late Rajiv Gandhi bombers spent in Bangalore, in which Malavika's well-researched portrayal of Shubha (an LTTE suicide bomber) won her critical acclaim. Apart from Manvantara for T.N.Seetharam, Malavika swayed the Kannada audiences with her cult figure like character of Madhavi Patel, IPS, in his ‘Muktha’.

The legal side to Malavika has seen expression through many international moot courts that she has participated and won as a student, the student-editorship of her college journal, her association with Madhyam, a development communications organization, assistant-editorship of the Madhyam journal, a legal column that she co-ordinated for the Times of India and UDAYAVANI for two years, her Malavika Pakkam in Kumudam, a Tamil weekly, her ‘Agony aunt’ column for Kumudam and more recently, ‘Malavika order’, a weekly column in Vijaya Karnataka, leading Kannada daily. Malavika has also held the position of head of programming at Zee Kannada.

AGNI, a talk show that Malavika hosted on E-TV Kannada brought out the sensitive side to her which was followed later by Baduku Jataka Bandi and is presently a huge success on Zee Kannada. In Baduku Jataka Bandi, Malavika deals with the most pertinent problems of individuals using her skills as an anchor as well as an Advocate, thereby providing an Alternate Dispute Resolution forum for resolving family issues. She also discusses burning social issues on her show. She was also housemate in Bigg Boss Kannada Season 4. In 2017 Important Role In Ilayathalapathy Vijay'S Movie Bairavaa as ajudge

Malavika's association with Bharatanatyam commenced at age five when her mother initiated her into the art form. She then trained under Prof. MR. Krishnamurthy of Kalakshetra, followed by the advanced tutelage under Padmashri Leela Samson in Delhi. She has been a recipient of the CCERT (a unit of the Culture Ministry) scholarship for Bharatanatyam. She has been pursuing dance in association with her renowned dancer sister, an alumnus of Kalakshetra, Ranjani Ganesan Ramesh. As a duo they have performed at cultural centres in India and abroad. Some the major cultural festivals include the Hampi festival, Pattadakkal festival, Khujrajo festival, Chidambaram Natyanjali, Uttara Chidambaram to name a few. Together, they organise an annual dance festival titled Arudhra at Bangalore.

Malavika, apart from compering several international dance and music festivals, has judged dance shows on television and hosted Takadhimithaa, a unique game show dedicated to Bharatanatyam on JayaTV. Malavika has been more occupied with her acting indulgences in the last few years and hopes to spend more time and energy on nurturing her Bharatanatyam in the coming years.

Malavika Avinash has always aspired to make a difference by becoming an active politician, her initial foray being campaigning for Sushma Swaraj in 1999 in Bellary. She is now a permanent invitee of the BJP's Mahila Morcha and intends to pursue politics full-time in the years to come.^[8][9] She joined Bharatiya Janata Party in September 2013^[10] and was appointed one of its co-spokespersons in February 2014.^[11]