Born in 1922 in Chachoengsao, Thailand, Vichet Kounavudhi graduated from Vajiravudh College in 1946 and started working as a journalist under the pen name Kounavudhi.

He broke into film in 1950, when he was offered the villain's role in Fa Kamnod. From there, he worked as a screenwriter, writing the dialogue for an adaptation of Wannaboon Withayakom's Phrom Bandan. His first screenplay was Santi Weena. In 1978 he wrote and directed the drama, Mia Luang, or First Wife. Next he wrote and directed Khon Phukao, or Mountain People, a docu-drama about Thailand's hill tribes. It is one of his best regarded films. But his most well-known, critically acclaimed film is 1982's Look Isaan, or Son of the Northeast, which was shot in a similar documentary style, depicting hard-scrabble life in Thailand's rural northeast.

In 1983, he became the first person in Thailand to be awarded an honorary doctorate in Communication Arts by Chulalongkorn University. In 1987, he was the first director to be honored by Thailand's National Culture Commission as the National Artist for Dramatic Arts (Motion Pictures).

Vichit died in 1997 at the age of 75.

In 2005, the Bangkok International Film Festival included four films by Vichit in a retrospective - First Wife, Mountain People, Son of the Northeast and his Vietnam War-era drama, Her Name is Boonrawd.

The festival catalog noted that "Vichit Kounavudhi is regarded today as a master of the Thai motion picture industry - one of the greatest inspirations to later generations of filmmakers, praised as a genius of directing, screenwriting and editing. What makes his films special is not sophisticated technique, but an exceptional clarity and concision."