Ramya was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, on 29 November 1982. Her mother, Ranjitha, is a senior member of the Congress Party in Karnataka, while her foster father, R. T. Narayan, was an industrialist. Ramya is from the Vokkaliga caste by birth. Her parents originally hail from Mandya. She studied at St. Hilda's school in Ooty, and at Sacred Heart School (Church Park), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Ramya made her debut in with Puneeth Rajkumar as hero in abhi movie,kannada.In 2004, Spandana debuted in the Tamil film industry under the name Ramya, with the film Kuththu. The film had a successful run at the box office, as did her next Tamil film, Giri. Her debut film, however, gave her the name 'Kuthu' Ramya, by which she was then popularly known in Tamil Nadu, she had major box-office success with three Kannada films – Aakash, Gowramma and Amrithadhare – garnering critical acclaim for her performances and establishing her as a leading actress.

In 2006, she starred in Julie, a remake of the 1975 Hindi-language film, but it failed to attract audiences. After her following release, Datta, her next Kannada release, Jothe Jotheyali, was a successful venture in spite of unfavorable reviews by critics. Her final 2006 release, Tananam Tananam, an average performer that released to mixed reviews, gained Ramya her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She had described her role in the film as "little complex" and "challenging". In 2007, Ramya starred in three feature films; the first of these, Arasu, was a huge hit.^[26] She then appeared as a sex worker in a film made to create awareness about AIDS as part of Mira Nair's AIDS Jaago project.^[27][28] Her last 2007 film was Polladhavan, released during Deepavali; it was considered a commercial success and her breakthrough in Tamil.^[29] Rajinikanth was all praises for the entire crew of Polladhavan.^[30]

Her first 2008 release, the Kannada film Mussanjemaatu, was a big hit, and gained her a nomination for a Best Actress Award at the 56th Filmfare Awards South. She followed this with the Tamil film Thoondil. Ramya later stated that she regretted accepting the film.^[31] Later that year, she starred in the films Bombaat and Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu, the former performing well at the box office.^[32] Her final release in 2008 was Gautham Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram, which also won that year's National Award for the best feature film in Tamil. She was credited as Divya in Vaaranam Aayiram.^[33] She dubbed her own voice for this film, which became a critical and commercial success. She did not have any releases in 2009, since both her films, Bhimoos Bang Bang Kids and Jothegaara, were delayed due to financial problems.^[34]

Her first release of 2010, Just Math Mathalli, received rave reviews, with appreciation for her role.^[35] She had two more releases that year, the long-delayed Jothegaara and Kiccha Huccha. Her next release was the Tamil film Singam Puli, followed by the romantic drama Sanju Weds Geetha. This film opened to highly positive reviews, with Ramya being unanimously praised by critics for her performance, which was considered among the best in her career.^[36][37][38]

Her first release in 2012 was a comedy drama, Sidlingu, in which she portrayed the role of a school teacher.^[39] This was followed by a light-comedy movie, Lucky. She appeared in the semi-mythological movie Katari Veera Surasundarangi. In August 2013, Ramya announced that she was considering quitting acting to pursue a career in politics.^[40]

Following her brief political career, Ramya made her acting comeback in 2016 with Nagarahavu, a film which placed deceased actor Vishnuvardhan in the lead role through visual effects. The film received negative reviews upon the release and failed to attract an audience despite this gimmick.^[41]

Ramya joined the Indian Youth Congress in 2012.^[42][43] She became the Indian National Congress (INC) Member of Parliament from Mandya constituency in Karnataka by winning the by-election in 2013. In the 2014 Indian general election, she again contested from Mandya but was defeated by C. S. Puttaraju by a margin of 5,500 votes.^[44]

In May 2017 she was given the task of reviving INC's social media wing and made her national head of Congress's digital team at national level.^[45] She took over the social media team from Deepender Singh Hooda. According to various newspapers and media houses, she is instrumental in turning around Rahul Gandhi's and INC's social media image.^[46]

• Brand Ambassador for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009 IPL team
• Most Googled Celebrity list in 2014^[48] and 2015^[49]
• Member, Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (2012–2013)^[50]
• Member, Consultative Committee of Information & Broadcasting (2013)
• Indian Delegation, 7th SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians Conference (2013)^[51]
• Filmfare Best Actress Award twice for her roles in Tananam Tananam (2006) and Sanju Weds Geetha (2011) films.
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for Sanju Weds Geetha (2011).