After leaving Tonbridge School in 1989, he played football for Charlton, Queens Park Rangers, and Aldershot Town. He then attended Durham University and subsequently Oxford University for whom he played first-class cricket and gained a blue.

Hollins started his media career at London TV station Channel One TV, then owned by Associated Newspapers. He then moved to Sky Sports in 1994 followed by spells at GMTV, Meridian and Five TV.

Hollins joined BBC News in 1999, and has also reported for Grandstand and Football Focus. He joined BBC Breakfast in October 2005, replacing Rob Bonnet.

Hollins appeared in the 2007 film Run Fatboy Run as a marathon commentator alongside Denise Lewis.

In 2008, Hollins became a patron of children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent. Chris Hollins is an ambassador for Gold Challenge, part of the official mass participation legacy programme for the London 2012 Games, and a supporter of WellChild.

In 2009, Hollins joined the presenting team of the BBC One antiques show Cash in the Attic.

In April 2010, Hollins co-presented The One Show for a week alongside Louise Minchin while regular hosts Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley were unavailable. Hollins returned to co-host an episode with Alex Jones in March 2016.

In September 2010, Hollins became a co-presenter on Watchdog. He later left following the 2015 series. In July 2011 Hollins became a co-presenter on BBC One’s programme The Great British Weather.

Hollins was the main sport presenter on Breakfast, presenting on Mondays–Thursdays until his final show on 21 March 2012 (he had decided not to make the move to Salford as the show was being relocated). He was also a regular male relief presenter during the week, standing in for main presenter Bill Turnbull. Hollins has reported from the 2002 World Cup in Japan, the 2010 World Cup, and America to cover The Masters golf in 2007.

Hollins and Matt Allwright presented three series of Food Inspectors, a factual programme which began airing on BBC One in February 2012. In 2016, Hollins co-presented the third series of Secret Britain alongside Ellie Harrison and Denise Lewis.