Chinna Satyam was born in Kuchipudi, Andhra Pradesh. He was taught by Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastry. He then refined his art by learning from Sri Tadepally Perrayya Sastry and later was trained by his elder brother Sri Vempati Pedda Satyam in expressions. As he learnt the nuances of this style of dance, he was successful in popularising the Kuchipudi dance form all over the world. 

Chinna Satyam was conferred with many titles and awards such as "Sangeet Peeth of Bombay", "Asthana Natyacharya of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam", T.T.K. Memorial Award by Madras Music Academy, "Natya Kalasaagara of Waltair", "Raja-Lakshmi Award of Madras", "Kalaprapoorna" from Andhra University, "Natya Kala Bhushana of Guntur", "Bharatha Kalaprapoorna of Hyderabad", D. Litt. from Sri Venkateswara University, "Asthana Natyacharya of Pittsburgh", and "National Award from Central Sangeet Naatak Akademi, New Delhi". He was awarded by many state governments of India such as Kalidas Puraskar by the Government of Madhya Pradesh . He was honored with a Doctorate degree by Andhra University.