Jonathan Kenworthy was born on the 23rd June 1943 and at age eleven he attended the Royal College of Art in London under the tutelage of John Skeaping. He then spent two years at Wimbledon College of Art before entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1961. While at the Academy Schools he was awarded the Landseer Travelling Scholarship prize (twice), the President's Prize for Craftsmanship, four silver medals for sculpture and the Gold Medal and Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture in 1965.
In 1965 Kenworthy had his first exhibition with the Tryon Gallery. In 1969, following annual study tours to East Africa, Kenworthy won the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award and had his first solo exhibition in London Jonathan Kenworthy Bronzes and Drawings: Movement and Wildlife in Africa at the Tryon Gallery followed by Impressions of Africa in 1971, and Kenworthy '75 – Cheetah Hunting Series, Baboons and Nomads.
Kenworthy has a worldwide following of private collectors, dealers and artists and his work appears on the secondary market with auction houses Sotheby's and Christies in New York and London. A retrospective exhibition titled 'Six Decades of Sculpture' was on at Pangolin London from March until April 2013. The exhibition was reviewed by William Packer in the Times on 6 April 2013 – 'Jonathan Kenworthy is, at 70, one of England's most remarkable modern sculptors, and also one of its most successful'.