At the age of 22 in 1997, Akshaye made his debut in his father's production Himalaya Putra, which didn't do well at the box office. His next release was J. P. Dutta's Border (1997). The film did very well at the box office, becoming the highest grossing film of that year and earning him a Filmfare Best Debut Award. Most of his releases that followed failed to do well until Subhash Ghai's Taal (1999) released.

The film fared moderately well and became the fourth highest grossing film of 1999. This was followed by Farhan Akhtar's immensely successful Dil Chahta Hai (2001) which became the fifth highest grossing film of 2001 His performance was well received by critics and won him the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Akshaye's first release of the year 2008 was Race in which he again played a negative role. He is currently working in Anil Kapoor's Shortcut - The Con is On, and will be seen in Life Partner