Manoj Pillai was born in the village of Cheppad, Kerala in southern India. He studied at the Govt. Boys High School, Haripad, then completed his B.E in mechanical engineer from PESIT Bangalore, after which he joined KPB advertising as a copywriter and the moved to McCann Erickson, Bangalore. It was there where he was introduced to Santosh Sivan, who cast him in his movie 'Malli' as a forest officer