Akanat was born on 12 January 1986 Bangkok as the second son of Pornthep Techapaibul and Srisakul Promphan, who later divorced. His father, Pornthep, once served as a deputy minister in the government of Chuan Leekpai, while his mother eventually, sister of veteran Democrat politician Niphon Promphan, eventually remarried Suthep Thaugsuban.
He attended Saint Gabriel"s College in Bangkok until he was 10, after which he studied in Australia, and then at Charterhouse School in the United Kingdom. He read engineering, economics and management at Street John"s College, Oxford, receiving a bachelor"s and a master"s degree. At 25, he was the youngest Member of Parliament elected that year.
In June 2013 he resigned from Parliament, to help lead the People"s Democratic Reform Committee dedicated to ousting the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, and served as the organisation"s spokesman.
After the removal of the Yingluck government and coup d"état in 2014, Akanat joined Suthep in being ordained as a monk for a year.
Akanat was subsequently elected a Democrat Member of Parliament representing Bangkok in the 2011 general elections. He and other members of his family received acclaim for his work during the 2011 Thailand floods, where he delivered food and other supplies to aid kitchens in Bangkok and Souther Thailand.
