He then worked as a roofers labourer for the following years, while managing to land an agent. After a few years of doing walk-on roles in Emmerdale, Three Up Two Down, and Shelley, Fairbrass made his first real TV appearance as an actor in the1984 BBC television series Big Deal as Nev - in the episode 'Fighting chance" followed by another BBC role in Tuckers Luck.

Fairbrass made his film acting debut as D.I Challoner in the 1989 Working title thriller For Queen and Country opposite Academy Award winner Denzel Washington. Film and television appearances quickly followed, including the Ray Winstone film Tank Malling, and the Channel 4 Film, The Final Frame playing Suggs's right-hand man, Franklin. He also landed a regular role as Gary 'Technique' Pagnall in the ITV drama series London's Burning in 1990. That same year Fairbrass was cast opposite Helen Mirren as Detective Frank Burkin in the Bafta/Emmy-award-winning original Prime Suspect 1 and 2.

In 1991, he travelled to Los Angeles and secured his first Hollywood acting role in the 1992 action blockbuster Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone. This led to roles in independent films with lead roles in Beyond Bedlam (1994) with Elizabeth Hurley, Galaxis (1995) with Brigitte Nielsen, Proteus, Killing Time, and Darklands.

It was in 1999 that Fairbrass landed the regular role of Dan Sullivan in EastEnders. He left the show in August 2001. He then took the lead role of Ray Betson in the Channel Five crime drama The Great Dome Robbery.

In 2007, he starred in the feature film Rise of the Footsoldier as real life gangster Pat Tate, and opposite Jason Statham in The Bank Job. 2008 saw Fairbrass with Til Schweiger in the game-based acton film, Far Cry, and also voicing "Gaz" in the videogame Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) then again as one of the most iconic characters in the games history as Ghost in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and as Sgt. Wallcroft in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. 2009 He starred in the vampire film Dead Cert alongside Billy Murray as well as the action film Freight and comedy Just for the Record.

In 2011, Fairbrass took the co-lead in the crime thriller St Georges Day, other lead roles included Vikingdom 3D, House of the Rising Sun, opposite Dave Bautista, Hijacked, and Get Lucky and Let me Survive. In 2012, Fairbrass took his first lead role in a US action thriller The Outsider, which starred Jason Patric, James Caan and Shannon Elizabeth. In Guns and Guitars, he costarred alongside Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi.

In 2014 he took the lead in the psychological thriller, Breakdown, alongside James Cosmo, Bruce Payne, Emmett Scanlan, Olivia Grant and Tamer Hassan. In 2015, he played the lead role of Jack Cregan in the revenge thriller London Heist with Steven Berkoff, which he also co-wrote. The film was produced by his own son, Luke Fairbrass. Craig Fairbrass went on to win the Best Actor Award at the Marbella Film festival 2016 for the role.

Fairbrass returned to the Call of Duty franchise, voicing Tee and additional voices in Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. In 2017 he reprised his role of Pat Tate in Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Years, a prequel to the 2007 original and proved to be Fairbrass's most powerful performance to date, winning him the best actor award at the 2018 National Film Awards in London.

Fairbrass has major roles in two of the biggest Mo-cap games the World has to offer, due for release in 2018.