Annus emigrated to America in 1949. He attended Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, from which he received the B.F.A. degree in 1958. He continued his studies the next year at the Art Students League, New York, and attended the Academy school 1958-59, where he was awarded the Hallgarten Traveling Scholarship. In 1959 he studied stage and film design at New York University. Award of the American Academy in Rome's Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Fellowship for mural painting in 1959, and its renewal in 1960 provided for two years of study in Rome. Scholarships awarded by the Italian government in 1962 and 1964 allowed him to pursue his study of stage and film design at the Accademia di Belli Arti e Liceo Artistico, Rome.
In Academy annual exhibitions, Annus has won Hallgarten prizes in 1964 and 1968, and the Truman prize in 1967. Among his commissioned works are murals executed for the American Academy in Rome. He is also a member of the National Society of Mural Painters and of the National Association of Broadcast and Television Employees. Annus makes his home in West Falen, West Germany.