Brooks was born in 1981, in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, and moved to Barmouth, Wales when she was a child. Brooks attended Tower House School, in Barmouth, and relocated to London to attend Ravenscourt Theatre School.

On television, Brooks has appeared in episodes of The Bill, London’s Burning, Jonathan Creek and The Demon Headmaster. When executive producer Matthew Robinson re-introduced the character of Janine Butcher in 1999, after Alexia Demetriou left, Brooks secured the role.

She has guest starred in Robin Hood and Love Soup. In theatre, Brooks, whilst on a break from EastEnders in 2003, appeared in the play Office Games alongside Adam Rickitt. The play was Brooks’ West End debut, and described as “a witty and intelligent political commentary”. In 2007, she appeared in Our Country’s Good at the Liverpool Playhouse.

After her departure from EastEnders in 2004, Brooks first role was in the BBC drama Bleak House as Jenny. Brooks has appeared in various commercials and voiceovers in the United Kingdom, Europe and the US.

In 2006, Brooks played Beverley Allitt in a BBC1 docu-drama called Beverley Allitt: Angel of Death, alongside Ian Kelsey. Producer Cathy Elliot said, “It’s a very sensitive issue and of course it’s terrible for the parents to have the whole thing brought up. Each time it’s brought up it’s painful, but a lot of parents realise it’s important it’s kept in the public domain and that people are aware that things have happened and that not a lot has been done since”.

In 2008, Brooks returned to EastEnders for a guest stint. She was later confirmed to be coming back as a regular character. She said, “I had doubts to begin with, mainly because of Kiki, as I know how full-on EastEnders can be, and then there’s that stigma about going back to a soap. But I’m so pleased I did, it was the right decision. Especially with what’s going on at the moment, I feel really lucky to have a job and I need the security because of Kiki. I was just going to go back for a year, but I had a meeting with the boss last week and we’re going to go for another year. So lots more time to get up to much mischief”. Executive producer Diederick Santer said, “I couldn’t be more pleased that Charlie Brooks is re-joining EastEnders. With her appearances last month, she reminded us what a fine actress she is, and what an intriguing, watchable and engaging character she plays as Janine”. She temporarily departed in September 2012, and returned in April 2013 before departing again in March 2014.

She won I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2012, beating campmate Ashley Roberts. Brooks was “visibly delighted”, saying, “[It feels] silly. I never imagined this for a million years. Everyone’s been amazing”.

In January 2019, it was announced that Alex Oates’s play All in a Row, starring Brooks as Tamora, the mother, was going to be produced by Paul Virides Productions at the Southwark Playhouse. The play is based on Oates’ ten years of experience caring for severely autistic children and adults, and won the Top Five Play Reading at the Bolton Octagon. The play is about the parents of a profoundly autistic eleven year old boy and how they are feeling the night before he is taken to a residential school, when social services feel he needs more support than can be given in their family home.