Malavallii Huche Gowda Amarnath (Ambareesh) or M.H.Amarnath (Ambaresh) was born in Maddur Taluk in Mandya District of Karnataka State is a Kannada film actor. He is also a prominent politician from Karnataka state.

Ambareesh was born in the village Malavalli,of Mandya district in Karnataka. His grandfather was the legendary violinist Tirumakudalu Chowdiah. He was the 6th of 7 children and the youngest among the brothers. Born as Amarnath and his father, Mysore Huche Gowda, was a gentle and generous person. Ambareesh's childhood was very much under his famous, musician , and maternal grandfather's shadow. Theirs was a large joint family in Mysore and that’s where he started his formal studies.

In the golden era of Kannada movies, the 70s, Puttanna Kanagal  was the name that spelled magic in the Kannada film industry. A maker of several big hits, he was respected by critics as well as the masses. He was known as a man who could even make a stone emote. In 1971, Puttanna was hunting for new faces to cast in his new movie "Nagara Havu and Ambareesh's good friend, Sangram suggested his name for a screen test much against his wishes. When the day of the screen test dawned, Ambareesh went into hiding and poor Sangram was left desperately hunting for him.

When he finally managed to locate him, he had to literally drag him to the studios [the famous Premier studios in Mysore]. The enigmatic director took one look at him and asked him go put on his make-up and get ready for his test. Ambi was so sure that he would flunk in this test.He was tested for a small but powerful part of an eve-teasing college boy and he was okayed for the part. The film also introduced Vishnuvardhan another future super star as the hero, went on to create history in the Karnataka movie industry. Ambareesh, though playing a small role named Jaleel, garnered a lot of attention and the Kannada film industry got a new young villain. He played the same role when the film was remade in Hindi as Zehereela Insaan.

Ambareesh became a hero with a film titled Amarnath . But his first success as a hero in a film directed by his close friend Rajendra Singh Babu. The year was 1980 and the film was Antha, a record-breaking hit. The movie was remade into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. He played a famous role called Kanwar Lal, his famous dialogue was Kutte, Kanwar nahi, Kanwar Lal bolo.

Ambareesh acted in over 200 films, including Puttanna Kanagal movies like Paduvara Halli Panddavaru, Shuba Mangala and Ranganayaki.