Dinmukhamed (Dimash) Akhmedovich Kunaev was born on January 12, 1912, in the city of Verny (now Almaty). His ancestors were from the Elder Zhuz and practiced the traditional Kazakh occupation of cattle breeding in the Kuigan area along the Kurty and Ili rivers. His grandfather, Zhumabay, completed Muslim school, later worked as a teacher, and made a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca.

His father, Minliakhmed (Akhmed) Kunaev, was born in 1886 and was literate in Arabic script. He worked in various roles for a prominent Verny merchant, Iskhak Gabdulvaliev, eventually becoming a clerk. His mother was Zaure Kunaeva. Dinmukhamed grew up in a large family with two brothers and eight sisters, though his younger brother Edige died in infancy and a younger sister, Gulzhanat, passed away at age 11. His siblings pursued various professional paths, with many, like his older sister Amina, moving to Moscow for education. His sisters Amina, Maymuna, Fazilya, Nailya, Gaukhar, Sara, and Rauza, and his brother Askar, all received higher or specialized education and made careers in fields ranging from medicine and engineering to science and cultural work.

Kunaev received an excellent education for his time, attending a school in the center of Alma-Ata. In 1936, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold with a degree in mining engineering. His thesis was titled "Determining the Capacities of the Kounrad Quarry for the Production of 90,000 Tons of Raw Copper Per Year," which he defended with honors.
Upon graduation, he was sent to the Kounrad mine of the Balkhash Copper Smelting Combine, marking the beginning of his professional life. The conditions were incredibly harsh, with workers living in yurts, dugouts, and barracks in a semi-desert climate marked by extreme heat and cold. Despite having a position in the project office, the young Kunaev requested to be sent to a production site to gain practical experience. He started in the drilling workshop and quickly proved himself a capable organizer, teaching modern techniques to local Kazakh workers who were new to industrial labor. His efforts were recognized in local newspapers, and his workshop became a leading unit.
He was later appointed head of the blasting workshop, where he successfully managed complex operations, including a massive controlled explosion to clear a hill for a railway trench. This experience proved valuable decades later when he approved a similar directed explosion to create the Medeo dam to protect Almaty from mudslides.
In 1939, at the age of 27, he was approved as the director of the Kounrad Mining Administration. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed director of the Ridder (later Leninogorsk) mine and, by April 1941, director of the Leninogorsk Mining Administration. The lead, zinc, and other rare metals produced under his management played a crucial role in the Soviet victory in World War II.

Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1942–1952) In April 1942, on the recommendation of Zhumabay Shayakhmetov, Kunaev was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) of the Kazakh SSR. During World War II, Kazakhstan became a vital rear base for the Soviet Union, hosting evacuated factories and populations. Kunaev was tasked with overseeing the republic's entire industrial sector, including non-ferrous metallurgy, coal, oil, and defense plants. He worked tirelessly to mobilize resources for the war effort, a period he later described as difficult but heroic years that expanded his knowledge and experience. He continued in this role after the war, serving under Chairman N. Undasynov.

In 1952, Kunaev was elected a full member and then President of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR. This appointment followed the politically motivated removal of the Academy's first president, the renowned geologist Kanysh Satpayev, who was accused of "nationalism" and protecting ideologically "alien elements". Kunaev initially refused the position but was persuaded by First Secretary Shayakhmetov.
As president, Kunaev focused on strengthening the material and technical base of scientific institutions. With the support of the new republic leaders P.K. Ponomarenko and L.I. Brezhnev, he secured funding to organize three new institutes: oil, microbiology, and mathematics. During this time, he also defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1955, when Kunaev was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers, he insisted that Satpayev be reinstated as President of the Academy, overcoming resistance from Brezhnev.

In March 1955, Kunaev was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR, effectively becoming the head of the republic's government. This period coincided with Nikita Khrushchev's ambitious Virgin Lands campaign, aimed at dramatically increasing grain production by cultivating vast tracts of steppe in Kazakhstan and Siberia. Kunaev, alongside L.I. Brezhnev (then First Secretary in Kazakhstan), oversaw this massive undertaking. He managed the influx of hundreds of thousands of workers and vast quantities of equipment, and organized the establishment of new state farms (sovkhozes) on undeveloped land.

He also spearheaded the development of major industrial projects. Under his leadership, work began on the Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky mining and processing plant, the Karaganda Metallurgical Combine in Temirtau, and the exploration of uranium deposits on the Mangyshlak peninsula, which led to the founding of the city of Shevchenko (now Aktau).

First Term (1960–1962) In January 1960, Kunaev was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, replacing N.I. Belyaev, who was heavily criticized for failures in industrial and agricultural management, particularly in the aftermath of the 1959 Temirtau riots. As the third ethnic Kazakh to hold this post, Kunaev's appointment was a significant event.
During this period, he faced a major challenge from Khrushchev, who sought to reorganize the republic's territory. Khrushchev created the Tselinny (Virgin Lands) Krai in northern Kazakhstan in 1960, a vast administrative unit with dual subordination to both Alma-Ata and Moscow, which many feared was a prelude to detaching the territory from Kazakhstan. Kunaev vehemently opposed this and subsequent proposals to expand the Krai, arguing it was a mistake to "carve up the land". His resistance led to his removal as First Secretary in December 1962, though Khrushchev kept him on as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He was replaced by Ismail Yusupov.