Austin was born in Austin, Texas. His parents, James and Beverly Anderson (née Harrison), divorced when he was around a year old. His mother moved to Victoria, Texas, and in 1968, married Ken Williams. Austin adopted his stepfather's surname and later, legally changed his name to Steven James Williams. Austin has three brothers (Scott, Kevin, and Jeff) and one younger sister (Jennifer). Kevin is less than a year younger, and Austin has hypothesized in his autobiography that their father may have left because he could not handle another child so soon. Austin spent most of his childhood in Edna, Texas. After finishing his schooling from Edna High School, Austin got a football scholarship at Wharton County Junior College, followed by a full scholarship at the University of North Texas.

Deciding to become a Wrestler, Austin joined Chris Adams' school in the Dallas Sportatorium, where Adams also wrestled for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Adams' training was purely technical, teaching Austin the moves, but nothing relating to kayfabe (still somewhat a guarded secret at the time) or Business. His first lesson in that came from Tony Falk, the Referee in his 1989 televised WCCW debut against Frogman LeBlanc, who called the spots to lead him to a pinfall and a $40 payday.

Austin dated Kathryn Burrhus throughout high school and college, and the two married on November 24, 1990. Nonetheless, Austin pursued a relationship with Jeanie Clarke ("Lady Blossom"), with whom he was working. His marriage to Burrhus was quickly annulled on August 7, 1992, and Austin and Clarke married on December 18, 1992. Together, they have two daughters, Stephanie (born in 1991), and Cassidy (born in 1996). Cassidy lives with her mother in England, while Stephanie resides in Los Angeles. Austin also adopted Jade, Clarke's daughter with former husband Chris Adams. Austin and Clarke divorced on May 10, 1999. Jade lives in the U.S. with her husband and son.

Austin was originally paired with a valet named Vivacious Veronica, but was later joined by Jeannie Adams, known as "Lady Blossom". Just weeks after his debut, Austin defeated Bobby Eaton for his first WCW World Television Championship on June 3, 1991 and later that year joined Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance. Austin lost the WCW World Television Championship to Barry Windham in a two out of three falls match on April 27, 1992, but regained the title from Windham on May 23 and enjoyed a second lengthy reign as champion before losing the title to Ricky Steamboat on September 2, while The Dangerous Alliance disbanded shortly thereafter. At Halloween Havoc on October 25, Austin replaced Terry Gordy, teaming with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to wrestle Dustin Rhodes and Windham for the unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championships. The teams wrestled to a thirty-minute time limit draw.

At Survivor Series, Austin was one of the last two Wrestlers in the match, with The Rock being the other, and was the last remaining hope for the Alliance to survive. Late in the match, Austin attempted to win the match with the Rock Bottom, the Rock's finishing maneuver, but failed to earn a three count. He then kicked out of his own Stone Cold Stunner, which the Rock nailed on him, and attacked two referees including Alliance Referee Nick Patrick. With the officials down, Angle ran to the ring and picked up Austin's title belt. He then entered the ring and struck Austin with it, betraying the Alliance and enabling The Rock to hit the Rock Bottom on Austin for the pin and the victory. With that, the InVasion ended, the Alliance was forced to disband, and Austin's Future in the company was in question. Eventually, McMahon decided he was going to strip Austin of the title and award it to Angle for his actions. Just before he could, Ric Flair returned to the WWF for the first time since his 1993 departure and announced he was now half owner of the company. Austin returned moments after this announcement and attacked Angle and McMahon for their actions. He was then handed his title belt by Flair and celebrated with him in the ring, turning him face once again.

With Pillman still injured, Austin joined Colonel Robert Parker's Stud Stable. After Pillman returned, Austin betrayed and defeated him in a singles match at Clash of the Champions XXV on November 10. At Starrcade on December 27, Austin defeated Dustin Rhodes in a two out of three falls match with two straight falls to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Austin lost the title to Ricky Steamboat on August 24, 1994 and was scheduled to face Steamboat in a rematch for the title at Fall Brawl on September 18, but Steamboat was unable to wrestle due to a legit back injury and Austin was awarded the title by forfeit. His second reign with the title ended just minutes later when he lost to Steamboat's replacement, Jim Duggan, in a match that lasted thirty-five seconds. Austin unsuccessfully challenged Duggan for the United States Heavyweight Championship at both Halloween Havoc on October 23 and Clash of the Champions XXIX on November 16.

After returning from a knee injury in early 1995, Austin took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight title, where he defeated Duggan via countout in the first round, but lost to Randy Savage in the quarterfinals. In 1995, Austin was fired by WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff after suffering a triceps injury while wrestling on a Japanese tour—Bischoff and WCW did not see Austin as a marketable Wrestler. Additionally, Bischoff thought Austin was hard to work with.

Austin spoke about Bret Hart, challenging him constantly and taunting him relentlessly. Hart finally accepted Austin's challenge and returned to the WWF in October 1996. At Survivor Series, in a match to determine the number-one contender to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Austin lost to Hart when Hart used the turnbuckle to push himself backwards while locked in the Million Dollar Dream and pinned Austin (this match would go on to create the foundations for the eventual year-long feud between the two). The match came hot on the heels of an incident broadcast live on Raw Is War, which saw Austin "break into" Brian Pillman's house, with Pillman holding a gun. During the 1997 Royal Rumble match, Austin was originally eliminated by Bret Hart, but the officials did not see it, and he snuck back into the ring and eliminated Hart by throwing him over the ropes, winning the match himself. This led to the first-ever pay-per-view main event of Austin's WWF career at In Your House 13: Final Four, after Shawn Michaels suffered a knee injury and left the WWF World Heavyweight Championship suddenly vacant. Austin was eliminated early from the four-way match at In Your House 13 for the title after injuring his own knee, but was involved in the finish which saw Hart win his fourth WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost the next night on Raw Is War to Sycho Sid due to Austin's interference, continuing his feud with Hart. At WrestleMania 13, Hart defeated Austin in a Submission match with Ken Shamrock as a special Referee. During the match, Austin had been cut and was bleeding profusely from his face, but he still refused to tap out when Hart locked in his Sharpshooter. Austin finally passed out from blood loss, still held in the Sharpshooter, and lost the match. After the bell, Hart continued to hold the Sharpshooter on Austin, who despite his wounds refused any assistance back to the locker room, thus turning Hart heel and Austin Babyface in a rare double-turn. However, Austin portrayed an anti-hero instead of a traditional Babyface. Austin eventually got his revenge on Hart in the main event of In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, in a match to determine the number-one contender to The Undertaker's WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Austin won when Hart was disqualified due to assistance from The British Bulldog, earning him a title match against The Undertaker at In Your House 15: A Cold Day In Hell. Austin faced Hart once again in a street fight on the April 21 episode of Raw Is War, injuring his opponent's leg with a steel chair during the bout. The match was ruled a no contest, but Austin proceeded to beat Hart while he was on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. At A Cold Day In Hell, Austin had The Undertaker down with the Stone Cold Stunner, but distracted by timely interference on the part of Brian Pillman, Austin's old tag team partner, who rang the bell before Austin got the cover, Undertaker then nailed Austin with a Tombstone Piledriver and achieved the victory off the distraction.

With The Rock defeating Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship at No Way Out, Austin was set to face The Rock at WrestleMania. In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, animosity grew between Austin and The Rock, stemming from Austin's wife, Debra, being assigned to be The Rock's manager by Mr. McMahon, but then relieved of that role after failing to prevent a brawl between Rock and Austin. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Austin faced The Rock for the second time and before the match began it was announced that the match had been made no disqualification. Midway during the match, Mr. McMahon made his way to ringside, then prevented The Rock from pinning Austin on two separate occasions and provided Austin a steel chair to hit The Rock with. Austin then hit The Rock several times with the chair and pinned him to win the WWF Championship for the fifth time. After the match, Austin celebrated by shaking hands with Mr. McMahon, a man he once considered his nemesis, even sharing a beer with him and turning heel for the first time since 1997. This decision has been highly criticised by many, including Austin himself, as Austin was such a top-level face that many agreed it made no sense to turn him heel.

On the Raw Is War after Austin won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Vince McMahon presented him with a new title belt and warned Austin that he did not approve of his rebellious nature and that things could be done "the easy way or the hard way". Austin gave his answer in the form of another Stone Cold Stunner. This led to a segment a week later where Austin had pledged a few days prior in a meeting to "play ball" with McMahon, appearing in a suit and tie, with a beaming McMahon taking a picture of himself and his new corporate champion. The entire thing was a ruse by Austin who in the course of the segment proceeded to tear off the suit, tell McMahon it was the last time he would see Austin dressed like this, punch his boss in the "corporate grapefruits" and take another picture of the two of them while McMahon was doubled over in pain. In April 1998, it appeared Austin and McMahon were going to battle out their differences in an actual match, but the match was declared a no contest when Dude Love made an appearance. This led to a match between Dude Love and Austin at Unforgiven: In Your House, where Austin hit McMahon with a steel chair, then the following month they had a rematch at Over the Edge: In Your House for the WWF Championship. Austin managed to retain the title despite McMahon acting as the Referee and his "Corporate Stooges" (Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson) as timekeeper and ring announcer, respectively. McMahon continued to do everything he could to ruin Austin and he finally scored a big victory for his side at King of the Ring, where Austin lost the WWF Championship to Kane in a First Blood match after the Undertaker intervened and hit him with a chair while the ref was incapacitated, despite Austin having knocked Kane unconscious and thwarted an earlier intervention by Mankind.

Austin's next definitive chance to exact revenge on Mr. McMahon came during the 1999 Royal Rumble match. On Raw Is War, McMahon drew Austin's entry number with the obvious intention of screwing him over. Austin drew entry number one, while McMahon drew number two thanks to WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels. During the Royal Rumble match, McMahon slipped out of the ring and into the crowd as Austin chased him down. It turned out to be a trap as McMahon led Austin into the lobby restroom where he was ambushed by members of The Corporation. Austin was injured and taken away in an ambulance. With Austin gone and not in the Rumble match, McMahon joined the announcers table in calling the match. Later on, however, Austin returned in an ambulance and re-entered the Royal Rumble, delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Big Boss Man and eliminating him. With the assistance of The Corporation and a last minute interference from The Rock, Austin was eliminated by McMahon himself, who won the 1999 Royal Rumble.

On September 13, 2000, Austin married Actress Debra Marshall.

Marshall would later claim that Austin was a steroid user, and this incident was the result of roid rage. Austin filed for divorce from Marshall on July 22, 2002, and the divorce was finalized on February 5, 2003.

The following week, Austin began his non-wrestling career with the WWE and began a fresh storyline when he was brought back by Linda McMahon as the Raw Co-General Manager. He continued this storyline for the remainder of the year, still showing wrestling moves including the Stone Cold Stunner and several exchanges of punches and kicks, although limiting regularity of these being performed. On the November 17, 2003 episode of Raw, Austin was "fired" from Raw as the result of a stipulation in a match at Survivor Series where Austin's hand-picked team of Wrestlers failed to beat Bischoff's team of Wrestlers. After Survivor Series, Mick Foley would become the new Co-General Manager of Raw, and began a (kayfabe) petition to have Austin re-instated. Austin quickly returned to WWE television before the end of 2003 when he was part of the Tribute to the Troops taped live in front of U.S. troops in Iraq, posing and stunning Mr. McMahon. He finally came back on Raw on December 29 as its "Sheriff", giving a Stone Cold Stunner to Eric Bischoff and rehiring Shawn Michaels, who had just been "fired" by Bischoff.

On March 26, 2004, Austin allegedly assaulted his girlfriend Tess Broussard during a dispute at his Texas home, according to a San Antonio Police Department report. Broussard claimed that Austin grabbed her, and she began struggling with him, who eventually threw her to the ground. Broussard landed on her hands and knees, and later told officers she had injured her right hand. Broussard provided a written statement to police, who photographed her injuries.

Austin had guest roles on Celebrity Deathmatch and Seasons 4 and 5 of CBS's Nash Bridges, where he played San Francisco Police Department Inspector Jake Cage. He has appeared on V.I.P and Dilbert. His motion picture debut was in a supporting role as Guard Dunham in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. Austin had his first starring film role, as Jack Conrad, a dangerous convict awaiting execution in a Salvadoran prison, who takes part in an illegal deathmatch game that is being broadcast to the public in the 2007 action film The Condemned.

He returned to WWE briefly to face John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in a beer drinking contest at the March 5, 2006 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. Austin won by disqualification as he saw JBL cheating by pouring the beer down his clothes. JBL threw some beer in Austin's face and tried to run away, but Chris Benoit quickly threw JBL back in the ring and Austin gave a Stone Cold Stunner to JBL. Austin inducted Bret Hart into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006.

On June 29, 2007, Marshall told Fox News that Austin beat her three times. She also stated that WWE knew of the abuse, working to conceal the bruises on her face, and kept her from revealing that Austin hit her, as it would cost the company millions of dollars.

On October 26, 2008, at Cyber Sunday, Austin was the special guest Referee during a match between Batista and Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship. In between the match Stone Cold told a fleeing Jericho that if he was counted out or disqualified, Batista would win the title. During the course of the match, Batista accidentally knocked Austin down. When Austin recovered, Randy Orton, who had come out as the third Referee, knocked Austin back down, only to receive a Stone Cold Stunner when Austin recovered. Batista won the match after a Batista Bomb on Jericho.

On the January 12, 2009, episode of Raw, Austin was announced to be the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2009. He was inducted by his long-term on-screen rival Vince McMahon, who referred to Austin as "the greatest WWE [wrestler] of all time". During the induction, there were "One more match" chants, to which Austin said he was officially closing the door on his wrestling career and starting a new chapter in his life. After the Hall of Fame introductions at WrestleMania XXV, Austin's theme music hit and he re-entered the ringside area wearing a vintage "Austin 3:16" shirt driving an ATV. He then celebrated with a beer bash with the fans and with long-time friend Jim Ross.

In 2010, Austin appeared in The Expendables as Dan Paine, the bodyguard and right-hand man for the primary antagonist of the film, played by Eric Roberts. It was his last American theatrical release film until 2013. Austin appeared as Hugo Panzer on television series Chuck. He has also starred in Damage, Hunt to Kill, The Stranger, Tactical Force, Knockout, Recoil, Maximum Conviction, and The Package.

In early 2011, Austin was announced as the head trainer and host for the revival of Tough Enough. On the March 7 episode of Raw, Austin interrupted the contract signing of the special guest Referee to the Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler match at WrestleMania XXVII, originally scheduled to be John "Bradshaw" Layfield; Austin attacked Layfield and signed the contract instead. Although Lawler won by submission, the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision and disqualified Lawler, claiming that Austin had "overstepped his authority". He appeared on Raw the following night with the cast from Tough Enough, while also getting into an altercation with The Miz and Alex Riley. On the June 6 episode of Raw, Austin appeared live alongside old rival Vince McMahon to declare Andy Leavine as the winner of Tough Enough. He also served as the special guest Referee in the evening's tag team main event, John Cena and Alex Riley against The Miz and R-Truth, hitting Miz with a Stone Cold Stunner and aiding Cena. However, the Anonymous Raw General Manager chimed in and the Anonymous Raw General Manager's ringside mouthpiece Michael Cole announced that since Austin had abused his authority as Referee, The Miz and R-Truth had won via disqualification. Austin did not take kindly to the Anonymous Raw General Manager overturning his decision and Cole also received a Stone Cold Stunner, which was followed with another Attitude Adjustment courtesy of Cena. Austin and Cena closed the show, celebrating with a beer bash. Austin appeared as the special guest General Manager on the "WWE All-Stars" episode of Raw. During the show, Austin destroyed the Anonymous Raw General Manager's laptop by running over it with his ATV.

In April 2013, Austin started a weekly podcast named The Steve Austin Show which is family-friendly, while his second podcast The Steve Austin Show – Unleashed! is more adult-oriented. Both shows are available at PodcastOne. The podcasts get 793,000 downloads a week and has almost 200 million overall downloads. In February 2018, Austin announced that the "Unleashed" version of the podcast had been dropped and merged with the family-friendly version in order to appeal to more sponsors. The podcast has also transitioned to a live broadcast for the WWE Network (podcasted after a short exclusivity period) with monthly specials since 2014.

Austin is the host for the reality competition show Redneck Island which began in June 2012 on CMT, and has since continued for a fifth season. He announced on his podcast in December 2013 that he had been given green light for Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge, a reality competition show that premiered on July 6, 2014 on CMT. The show entered into its fifth season in September 2017.

Austin made an appearance on the October 19, 2015 episode of Raw, introducing The Undertaker and promoting the WrestleMania 32 event. Austin again appeared on Raw the following week, where he promoted the WWE 2K16 video game in a backstage segment.

On the January 22, 2018, episode of Raw 25, Austin returned to WWE, where he would give a Stone Cold Stunner to both Shane McMahon and Mr. McMahon.