Dominique Strauss-Kahn was born on 25 April 1949 in the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is the son of Lawyer Gilbert Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn's Father was born to an Alsatian Jewish Father and a Catholic mother from Lorraine; Strauss-Kahn's mother is from a Sephardic Jewish family in Tunisia.

He and his parents settled in Agadir, Morocco, in 1951, but after the 1960 earthquake moved to Monaco, where his Father practiced law. While the family was living in Monaco, Strauss-Kahn went to school at the Lycee Albert 1er. The family later returned to Paris, where he attended classes préparatoires at the Lycée Carnot. He graduated from HEC Paris in 1971 and from Sciences Po and the Paris Institute of Statistics in 1972. He sat and failed the entrance examination for École nationale d'administration, but obtained a bachelor degree in public law, as well as a PhD and an agrégation (1977) in economics at the Université Paris X (Nanterre).

Strauss-Kahn was first an Activist member of the Union of Communist Students, before joining in the 1970s the Centre d'études, de recherches et d'éducation socialiste (Center on Socialist Education Studies and Research, CERES) led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Future presidential candidate for the 2002 election. There, he befriended the Future Prime Minister of France Lionel Jospin (PS).

From 1977 to 1981, Strauss-Kahn lectured at the University of Nancy-II, first as an assistant, and later as assistant professor, before taking a position at the University of Nanterre. In 1982, he was appointed to the Plan Commission as head of the Finance department, and later as Deputy Commissioner, a position he held until his election to the National Assembly in 1986. After his ousting in the 1993 parliamentary elections, Strauss-Kahn founded DSK Consultants, a corporate law consulting firm. Upon resigning from the Jospin government, he resumed his academic duties, teaching economics at Sciences Po from 2000 until his appointment to the IMF in 2007.

After the election of President François Mitterrand (PS) in 1981, he decided to stay out of government. He got involved in the Socialist Party (PS), which was led by Lionel Jospin, and founded Socialisme et judaïsme ("Socialism and Judaism"). The next year, he was appointed to the Commissariat au plan (Planning Commission) as commissaire-adjoint.

Strauss-Kahn has four daughters, one by his second wife, Brigitte Guillemette, whom he married in 1984. He married his third wife, French Journalist Anne Sinclair, in 1991. Sinclair is the heiress to part of the fortune of her maternal grandfather, famed art dealer Paul Rosenberg. The couple had a house in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., two apartments in Paris, and a riad in Marrakesh, Morocco. He is an accomplished chess player who enjoys playing chess for up to two or three hours a day on his iPad.

In 1986 he was elected Member of Parliament for the first time in the Haute-Savoie department, and in 1988 in the Val-d'Oise department. He became chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Finances, famously exchanging heated words with the Finance Minister Pierre Bérégovoy (PS).

In 1991, he was nominated by Mitterrand to be Junior Minister for Industry and Foreign Trade in Édith Cresson's social-democratic government. He kept his position in Pierre Bérégovoy's government until the 1993 general elections.

After the electoral defeat of 1993, Strauss-Kahn was appointed by former Prime Minister Michel Rocard chairman of the groupe des experts du PS ("Group of Experts of the Socialist Party"), created by Claude Allègre. The same year, he founded the law firm "DSK Consultants" and worked as a Business Lawyer.

In 1994, Raymond Lévy, who was Director of Renault, invited him to join the Cercle de l'Industrie, a French industry lobby in Brussels, where he met the Billionaire businessman Vincent Bolloré and top manager Louis Schweitzer; Strauss-Kahn served as secretary-general and later as vice-president. This lobbyist activity earned him criticism from the alter-globalization left.

As Minister of Economics and Finance, Strauss-Kahn succeeded in decreasing VAT to 5.5% for renovation works in construction, thus supporting this activity. At the same time, he decreased the budget deficit, which was more than 3% of GDP under Alain Juppé's center-right government (1995–97). He thus prepared France's entrance in the euro zone. Strauss-Kahn also repealed the Thomas Act on hedge funds and launched the Conseil d'orientation des retraites (Orientation Council on Pensions).

In 1997, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (PS) appointed Strauss-Kahn as Minister for Economics, Finance and Industry, making him one of the most influential ministers in his Plural Left government.

In 1998 he became one of the Leaders of the Socialist Party for the regional elections in the Ile-de-France region (Paris and suburbs), which were won by the PS. But as Strauss-Kahn refused to swap his ministry for the executive leadership of the Ile-de-France, Jean-Paul Huchon became the President of the regional council.

In 1999, he was accused of corruption in two financial scandals related to Elf Aquitaine and the MNEF Affair, a student mutual health insurance, and decided to resign from his ministerial office to fight these charges, in agreement with the "Balladur jurisprudence". He was replaced by Christian Sautter. He was acquitted in November 2001, and was reelected in a by-election in the Val-d'Oise.

Strauss-Kahn made comments that could be perceived as critical of global financial actors, in an interview for a documentary about the late-2000s financial crisis, Inside Job (2010). He said he had attended a dinner organised by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in which several CEOs of 'the biggest banks in the U.S.' had admitted they (or perhaps Bankers in general) were 'too greedy' and bore part of the responsibility for the crisis. They said the government "'should regulate more, because we are too greedy, we can't avoid it.'" Strauss-Kahn said he warned the officials of a number of departments of the U.S. government of an impending crisis. He also said: "At the end of the day, the poorest – as always – pay the most."

After Jacques Chirac's success in the 2002 presidential election and the following Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)'s majority in Parliament, Strauss-Kahn was reelected Member of Parliament on 16 June 2002, in the 8th circonscription of the Val-d'Oise. He first declined in taking part in the new leadership of the PS, then in the opposition, in the 2003 congress of the party. But he joined the party's leadership again at the end of 2004, and was given overall responsibility for drawing up the Socialist programme for the 2007 presidential election, along with Martine Aubry and Jack Lang. During the summer meeting of 2005, he announced that he would be a candidate for the primary elections of the Socialist Party for the presidential election.

Strauss-Kahn then campaigned for the "Yes" at the French European Constitution referendum, 2005. More than 54% of the French citizens refused it, damaging Strauss-Kahn's position inside the PS, while left-wing Laurent Fabius, who had campaigned for a "No" vote, was reinforced.

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, 2007–2011 (resignation – sexual assault case)

In 2008, the IMF Board appointed an independent investigator following allegations that Strauss-Kahn had had an affair with a subordinate, Piroska Nagy, who was married at the time to Economist Mario Blejer. Nagy alleged that Strauss-Kahn had used his position to coerce her into the affair. She was later made redundant and Strauss-Kahn assisted her in getting a new job. The IMF board issued the findings of the investigation; while noting that the affair was "regrettable and reflected a serious error of judgment on the part of the managing director", the board cleared Strauss-Kahn of harassment, favoritism or abuse of power, and indicated that he would remain in his post. Strauss-Kahn issued a public apology for the affair. Le Journal du Dimanche dubbed him "le grand séducteur" (the Great Seducer).

Referring to his diplomatic efforts to secure IMF aid for Europe following the 2010 sovereign debt crisis, Economist Simon Johnson described Strauss-Kahn as "Metternich with a BlackBerry". In May 2011, referring to the IMF's change of heart in favour of progressive rather than neoliberal values, Joseph Stiglitz wrote that Strauss-Kahn had proved himself to be a "sagacious leader" of the institution. Following Strauss-Kahn's arrest for sexual assault in New York, Economist Eswar Prasad said that should he be forced to step down, the IMF "will find it hard to find as effective and skilful an advocate for keeping the institution central to the global monetary system".

After completing a lengthy investigation, prosecutors filed a motion to drop all charges against Strauss-Kahn, stating that they were not convinced of his culpability beyond a reasonable doubt due to serious issues in the complainant's credibility and inconclusive physical evidence, and therefore could not ask a jury to believe in it. The motion was granted by Judge Obus in a hearing on August 23, 2011. In a TV interview in September, Strauss-Kahn admitted that his liaison with Diallo was a moral fault and described it as "inappropriate" but that it did not involve violence, constraint or aggression. He said that Diallo had lied about the encounter and that he had no intention of negotiating with her over a civil suit she had filed against him. Strauss-Kahn later reached a settlement with Diallo for an undisclosed amount over the civil suit.

In the aftermath of the New York arrest, numerous other allegations of sexual misconduct were made. During the case, the Journalist Tristane Banon came forward with a claim that Strauss-Kahn had attempted to rape her. In September, Banon stated that if there is no Criminal prosecution, she would bring a civil case against Strauss-Kahn. According to a report in L'Express Strauss-Kahn admitted to attempting to kiss Banon. In October the French public prosecutors dropped the investigation. They stated that there was a lack of evidence regarding the allegation of attempted rape. In March 2012, Strauss-Kahn came under investigation in France over his alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. The allegations relate to his supposed involvement in hiring prostitutes for sex parties at hotels in Lille, Paris and Washington. On 2 October 2012, a French prosecutor announced that they will not continue the investigation of Strauss-Kahn's connection to a possible gang rape in Washington, D.C.

On 26 July 2013, French prosecutors announced that Strauss-Kahn was to stand trial concerning allegations of "aggravated pimping" at the Carlton hotel in Lille. Strauss-Kahn was acquitted of these charges on 12 June 2015.

A feature film Welcome to New York directed by Abel Ferrara (2014) was based on the Strauss-Kahn story. The film featured "Gérard Depardieu as Devereaux, a character modeled on Strauss-Kahn, and Jacqueline Bisset as Simone, likewise based on Anne Sinclair, ... [was] built around the Sofitel scandal and portray[ed] both characters in an unforgiving light". Sinclair said the film was "disgusting" and Strauss-Kahn's Lawyer said "his client would sue the film's producers for libel".

In December 2015, the press revealed that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, while he was the managing Director of the IMF, had a secret love child born in 2010.