Shubra Aiyappa was born in Bangalore (Karnataka) and attended Baldwin Girls High School. After breaking into modelling, Subra appeared in several commercials before being signed on to appear in the Telugu film, Rey (2015), directed by YVS Chowdary. However Shubra later opted out of the venture, and signed on to make her acting debut in Prathinidhi (2014), portraying a journalist.

In 2015, Shubra appeared in Sagaptham, a Tamil film noted for its launch of Shanmugapandian, the son of actor-politician Vijayakanth. The film opened to unanimously poor reviews and Shubra's role was minimal[4] She also made her first appearance in a Kannada film during the same year, portraying a guest role in Vajrakaya (2015). Her character appeared in the first fifteen minutes of the film and featured in a song, which was shot in Venice. The film opened to positive reviews and performed well at the box office, prompting further film offers for Shubra.