Randeep Singh Hooda was born on 20 August 1976 in Rohtak, Haryana, India, to Ranbir Hooda and Asha Devi Hooda. His father is a surgeon and his mother is a social worker. He spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in their hometown as his parents travelled extensively, and resided in the Middle East for most part. He has an elder sister, Anjali Hooda Sangwan, a nutritionist who trained in the United States of America and a younger brother Sandeep Hooda, a Software Engineer working in Singapore.

After completing his schooling, Hooda moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1995, where he studied for a bachelor's degree in marketing and a master's degree in Business management and human resource management. During that period, he worked in a Chinese restaurant, a car wash, as a waiter and for two years as a taxi driver. In 2000, Hooda returned to India and worked in the marketing department of an airline. He subsequently started modelling and working in amateur theatre in Delhi. While rehearsing for the play To Teach His Own, Director Mira Nair approached Hooda to audition for a role in her upcoming film.

Hooda made his acting debut in Mira Nair's film Monsoon Wedding (2001), playing a non-resident Indian from Australia. Although the film was a critical and commercial success, Hooda waited four years for a second project. In the meantime, he worked in theatre and appeared in television commercials to support himself financially. He also attended and assisted an imagination and improvisation workshop conducted by Naseeruddin Shah at the National School of Drama in New Delhi.

Hooda had a relationship with former Miss Universe and actor Sushmita Sen from 2004 to 2006. He later said ending their relationship changed his career; "The break-up was the best thing that happened to me and I realised that I gave it too much time in my life. It freed my Energy to do things for myself." Hooda owns a stray dog named Candy.

In 2005, Hooda was cast as the male lead in Ram Gopal Varma's gangster film D. His performance in the film received positive reviews; Taran Adarsh wrote, "D wouldn't be what it is without Randeep. He changes his expressions like a chameleon changes colors and that's where he scores." After D, Hooda appeared in a series of critically and commercially unsuccessful films including Darna Zaroori Hai (2006), Risk (2007), Ru Ba Ru (2008), and Love Khichdi (2009).

In December 2008, Hooda underwent surgery after suffering a severe ankle injury in a fall from his horse during a polo match in Mumbai. The following year, he won a silver medal at an open dressage event organised by the Equestrian Federation of India in Delhi. Hooda has also won medals at Equestrian events in Mumbai and Delhi, where he participated with riders from the Indian Army. In 2014, Hooda won seven medals, including three gold and two silver and bronze medals respectively, at the National Equestrian Championship in dressage and show-jumping events. Additionally, he has won a silver medal each at the Delhi Horse Show, in 2009 and the Bombay Horse Show, in 2011.

In 2009, Hooda was a guest contributor to "In The Script", a column published by Asian Correspondent. His article titled "Racism against Indians in Australia ..." discussed the violence against Indians in Australia controversy. Hooda wrote about his experience in Australia, where he was subjected to racial discrimination; he said, "My experiences were not in my mind incidents of racial discrimination but more a challenge of an individual assertion of mental and physical superiority". In conclusion, he wrote, "The point is to get tough inside out, play a sport apart from cricket, have heart and stand up in unity and say 'we'll not take shit'. All it needs is a few pioneers and I'm proud to say that I tried [and will continue to do so] and I hope a few others do that too." In 2011, Hooda began writing a blog for Hindustan Times.

Apart from his reputation as an intense actor, Hooda is considered one of India's most attractive celebrities. In 2010, he ranked 21st in The Times of India's annual list of the 50 most desirable men. In 2011, a global online survey conducted by Internet Movie Database (IMDb) ranked him seventh on its list of the "20 sexiest men in the world". Although he was surprised and grateful, Hooda said he is not influenced by such labels; "I want people to know me for my body of work, than just my body ... Being sexy can always just be an added advantage, not the be-all and end-all for an actor". During an interview with Mid Day, he said during his early years in the industry, people saw him as an "explosive Jat boy" who had a calculated approach to his work. He said, "Now, I'm a bit more careful. I've changed the way I express myself".

Hooda's final film of the year was Madhur Bhandarkar's drama Heroine, starring Kareena Kapoor, in which he played cricketer Angad Paul. Before the start of principal photography, Arunoday Singh was chosen for the role but was dropped for unknown reasons. Media reports began speculating about several actors (such as Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan and Prateik Babbar), although Bhandarkar later confirmed that he selected Hooda after seeing his performance in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011). The film received mixed to negative reviews, but Hooda's performance was appreciated by the critics. Kanika Sikka of Daily News and Analysis wrote, "Randeep, as usual does justice to his role." The film was fared poorly at the domestic and international box office.

Hooda's first film in 2012 was Kunal Deshmukh's crime thriller Jannat 2, a sequel to Jannat (2008). Jannat 2 received mixed reviews from critics and Hooda was praised for his performance. Taran Adarsh wrote, "the actor delivers yet another knockout performance. He dominates in several sequences, making you realize that if given an opportunity, the guy can steal the thunder from the best of actors." Sonia Chopra of Sify said, "Randeep Hooda is the best thing about the film." It was a commercial success and earned a domestic revenue of over ₹410 million (US$6.3 million). Hooda's next appearance was in Pooja Bhatt's erotic thriller Jism 2 opposite Sunny Leone. The film and Hooda's performance received mixed reviews from critics. Lisa Tsering of The Hollywood Reporter said Hooda "smolders to the best of his ability in the role of a violent criminal". Rajeev Masand, who was less impressed by his performance, wrote, "The usually dependable Hooda, goes a little overboard with all the feeling; alternating clunkily between melancholic and hyper, Hooda constructs a wildly implausible character that inspires most of the unintended laughs in this film". Jism 2 was a moderate commercial success, earning ₹350 million (US$5.4 million) in India.

In 2013, Hooda starred opposite Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in Vishesh Bhatt's Murder 3, an official remake of the 2011 Colombian thriller The Hidden Face. The film and his portrayal of Vikram (a fashion and wildlife photographer) garnered mixed to negative feedback from critics. A review from Mint said that Hooda "is hundreds of shades below his ability to enact a character." The film earned a worldwide gross of ₹250 million (US$3.8 million) in ten days and was an average grosser. Later that year, Hooda acted in Ketan Mehta's biographical period film Rang Rasiya, based on the life of the 19th-century Indian Painter Raja Ravi Varma. Hooda also featured in the thriller John Day, alongside Naseeruddin Shah. He also appeared alongside Rani Mukerji and Saqib Saleem in a segment directed by Karan Johar for the anthology film Bombay Talkies. The film was made as a celebration of the 100th year of Indian cinema and was screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2014, Hooda appeared opposite Alia Bhatt in Imtiaz Ali's Highway. To get used to his character, who had a distant relationship with Bhatt's character, he avoided speaking to her for about 25 days. Parmita Uniyal for Hindustan Times praising Hooda's "nuanced yet controlled" performance wrote that he lent, "authenticity to his character". He then starred in Sajid Nadiadwala's action film Kick, co-starring Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez. The film emerged as one of Bollywood's biggest blockbusters of 2014, with the total revenue of ₹4.2 billion (US$64 million). Hooda's last release for the year was the Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut starrer Ungli. The film focused on both a commercial failure and was panned by critics. Emphasizing on the fim's potential Mid Day critic Shubha Shetty Saha said the film would have been "wonderful" had it not been for its "downright idiotic" dialogue. In 2015, Hooda portrayed the serial killer Charles Sobhraj in Prawaal Raman's, Main Aur Charles. It was told from the perspective of Amod Kanth, the cop who handled his case and was also based on his 1986 jail escape. The film was released in India on 31 October 2015 to mostly positive response from critics.

In 2016, Hooda starred in four films, the first one was the drama thriller Laal Rang, based around illegal blood selling. The film was a box office failure and received a lukewarm response from critics. Hooda's performance was highlighted as the only bright spot in the film. Omung Kumar's biographical drama Sarbjit, was his next release, where he portrayed the role of Sarabjit Singh, who was captured by Pakistan and later sentenced to death by their Supreme Court for alleged terrorism. Hooda lost eighteen kg of weight in 28 days for the preparation of the role. The film premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, and received mixed reactions from critics. Anupama Chopra called Hooda "terrific". Sarbjit proved to be a box-office success. Hooda's next release was Deepak Tijori's Do Lafzon Ki Kahani alongside Kajal Aggarwal. A remake of the 2011 Korean film Always, the film was a critical and commercial failure. His final release of 2016 was the Sports drama Sultan, co-starring Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma, where he played the coach of Sultan. With earnings of over ₹5 billion (US$77 million) worldwide, it ranks among Indian cinema's biggest grossers.. In 2018, he returned to silver screen again with Baaghi 2 where he played ACP LSD co-starring Tiger Shroff. It became another blockbuster of Hoods's career and also critically acclaimed for his performance.