Ken Unsworth was born in Melbourne in 1931. He studied at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Teachers College, and the National Art School, Sydney. He has held several teaching positions, including Lecturer in Sculpture, Sydney College of Advanced Education. 

Unsworth has had numerous solo exhibitions, in Australia and overseas, including a major survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1998. His works have been included in the Mildura Sculpture Triennial, 1973 and 1978; the Australian Sculpture Triennial, Melbourne, 1981,1984 and 1993; Australian Perspecta, Sydney, 1981, 1985, 1987 and 1988; and the Biennale of Sydney,1976, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990 and 2000. He has also participated in major international exhibitions including the Paris Biennale, 1985; Magiciens de la Terre, Paris, 1989; and the Biennale of Istanbul, Turkey, 1995. 

In 1978 Unsworth represented Australia at the Venice Biennale. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Bi-centenary Sculpture Competition Award in 1970 and the DAAD Scholarship, Berlin, in 1987. In 1989 he was awarded an Australian Creative Fellowship and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to sculpture. Ken Unsworth lives in Sydney.