In 1981, he together with his family moved to Nizhnevartovsk, where Konstantin lived over the period of four years. In 1985 the family returned to Leningrad. After finishing eight classes of secondary school No. 486, Konstantin entered the Technical College of Aviation Instrument Engineering and Automation, but after studying there for three years he realized that this profession was not for him. He tried many jobs including as a janitor, cleaner, street musician, and then was hired as a lighting technician at the theatre studio "Subbota" where he later performed for the first time. In 1990 Khabensky entered the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema (course of Veniamin Filshtinsky), where his classmates were Mikhail Porechenkov, Andrei Zibrov and Mikhail Trukhin. For the final exam Konstantin performed as Estragon in the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, his graduation was in 1995.

Khabensky's cinematic debut was in the 1994 comedy film To whom will God send where he appeared in a minor role of a pedestrian.

Between 1995–1996, he worked as presenter of regional TV in the department of music and information programs.

Konstantin Khabensky moved to Moscow in 1996 to become a stage actor in Satyricon Theatre where he performed in background roles. He worked there for only a few months and returned to the Saint Petersburg Lensoviet Theatre.

In 1998, he acted in three pictures at once. In the satiric romantic drama directed by Dmitry Meskhiev, Women's Property, Khabensky played the lead role of Andrei Kalinin, a young aspiring actor who decides to seduce the aging Actress and professor of a teaching institute Elizaveta Kaminskaya, played by Yelena Safonova. For the role he received the Best Male Actor award at the Gatchina Literature and Cinema Film Festival. Khabensky also starred in the Russian-Hungarian Criminal fantasy melodrama of Tomas Toth Natasha and had an uncredited role of a musician in the social drama of Aleksei German, Khrustalyov, My Car!.

The following year, Konstantin played a small role in Nikolai Lebedev's thriller The Admirer (1999). The next notable work in the cinema was the main role in the drama of Vladimir Fokin's House for the Rich (2000). Next year he played in another film by Dmitry Meskhiev, comedy-drama Mechanical Suite.

Konstantin Khabensky was married to radio-journalist Anastasiya Khabenskaya from 12 January 2000, until her death at age 35 from a brain tumor on 3 December 2008. He has one son by her, Ivan, who was born in Moscow on 25 September 2007. In Russia he lives in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2013 Khabensky married Actress Olga Litvinova and on the 3rd of June, 2016, she gave birth to their daughter.

Another important role was of Sasha Guriev in the picture In Motion (2002) directed by Filipp Yankovsky. The film was about a successful and charming Journalist who suddenly realizes that he has found compromising evidence on his Politician friend. For the role he received the Best Male Actor award at the Vivat, Russian Cinema festival.

GQ Russia magazine chose him as Actor of the Year in 2003 and 2016.

Khabensky reunited with Meskhiev for the fifth time in Our Own (2004), a World War II drama film where he played political commissar Livshitz. In the same year he also had a supporting role in Goddess: How I fell in Love by Renata Litvinova.

In 2005 he played in Filipp Yankovsky's historical mystery film The State Counsellor, adaptation of the novel of the same name by Boris Akunin. His character in the film was Green (Grigory Grinberg), a revolutionary who attempts to murder the governor of Moscow. For this role, he received his first Golden Eagle Award, as best supporting actor.

In 2006, the actor starred in the film Rush Hour directed by Oleg Fesenko and based on the novel by Jerzy Stawiński. In the same year aired the television series Filipp's Bay, in which Khabensky was filmed in parallel with the shooting of Day Watch.

Also in 2007, he appeared as Denis Maltsev in thriller The Russian Triangle by Aleko Tsabadze which was about two brothers who survive brutal torture and Chechen captivity.

In 2008 he established the Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation (Russian: Благотворительный Фонд Константина Хабенского, translit. Blagotvoritelny Fond Konstantina Khabenskogo) which provides assistance to children with oncological and other serious brain afflictions.

Khabensky appeared in the 2009 mystical drama The Miracle by Aleksandr Proshkin. The film was inspired by the urban legend of Zoya who after dancing with an icon of Saint Nicholas became paralyzed.

Since 2010, Khabensky has been opening non-profit studios of creative development throughout Russia. Once a year Konstantin conducts a festival with all participants of the studios under the name "Operenie".

In the supernatural courtroom drama series Heavenly Court made in 2011, he played the character of Andrei who dies and becomes a prosecutor in the afterlife. He also appeared in children's film Fairytale.Is and historical picture Raspoutine during the same year.

He was awarded the title People's Artist of Russia in 2012.

Konstantin played alcoholic geography Teacher Victor Sluzhkin in the 2013 adventure drama The Geographer Drank His Globe Away directed by Alexander Veledinsky. It was based on the eponymous novel by Alexei Ivanov. His acting received considerable praise in Russia and abroad. Ronnie Scheib from Variety wrote that "thanks to Konstantin Khabensky’s charismatic, sardonic performance as Victor, even personal deterioration proves fascinating and consistently entertaining". Khabensky won the Best Actor prize at Kinotavr, Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards, Nika Awards and the Golden Eagle Awards.

Also in 2014, Khabensky appeared as officer of the Tsarist army in Yolki 1914. The picture was part of the comedy anthology film series Yolki, where he has served as narrator in all installments.

In 2015 Khabensky was cast as police investigator Rodion Meglin who doubles as a vigilante in the crime drama series The Method directed by Yuri Bykov and produced by Sreda. For the role he received the TEFI award as best actor of a television series.

In 2016 he played an employee of a collecting firm in the thriller Collector directed by Alexey Krasovsky where he was the only actor on screen. Russian edition of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a brilliant solo performance with one of the best Russian actors of our time". For the film he received the Best Actor award at Kinotavr and at the Prague Independent Film Festival.

According to the detailed analytical review of Russian cinema by Yandex in 2017 based on the data of the website KinoPoisk, Konstantin Khabensky was declared to be the most popular actor in Russia in the first 15 years of the 21st century.

Konstantin Khabensky's directorial debut Sobibor, where he also plays the lead role of Alexander Pechersky, is scheduled to be released in 2018. The film is a World War II drama about the only successful uprising in a Nazi death camp. It also stars Christopher Lambert.