She has worked in Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, and Tamil films. She is known for her roles in Doghi, Deool, Dil Chahta Hai, Singham, and Taxi Number 9211. Sonali Kulkarni first made her appearance on the screen in a Kannada film titled Cheluvi directed by Girish Karnad.
Apart from acting, she was an editor with Viva, a supplement of Marathi daily newspaper Loksatta from June 2005 till May 2007.
She used to pen a weekly column called "So Kool". The columns are published in the book So Kool by Rajahansa Prakashan.
Actor Nana Patekar on the release of this book said, "Whenever I read her articles, I feel she is talking to medical There is so much of simplicity in her writing." Kulkarni showed her dancing skills in the second season of the popular celebrity-dance competition show.
She has also worked with Doordarshan channel and did some films like Gulabari in 1994 in Hindi which telecast in 1995 and Kata Rute Kunala in 1996 in Marathi for which she has also got RAPA Award-Best television performance of the year.
She was also seen in one story (Kya Yahi Pyaar Hai-Directed by Tanuja Chaturvedi) of Star Bestsellers television Series telecast in 1999-2000 on Star Plus.