Beale was born in Blacktown, New South Wales, and grew up at Mount Druitt in Western Sydney. In his early years Kurtley played junior rugby league for Western City Tigers, Mt Druitt before converting to rugby union. He attended St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill (“Joeys”), where he played in that school’s first XV in all three of his senior years. Beale was selected in the NSW and Australian Schoolboys representative rugby teams between 2004 and 2006. In 2006 Beale captained both the Joey’s first XV and the Australian Schoolboys side, and regularly attended training sessions with the NSW Waratahs from the age of 15. He signed with the Waratahs while still only a 16-year-old. At 17, he attended his first Wallabies training camp, on the invitation of coach John Connolly.

Beale’s first played senior rugby at the Northern Suburbs club alongside then-Waratahs teammates Al Baxter and Sam Norton-Knight. With the launch of the Australian Rugby Championship in 2007, Beale became the starting flyhalf for the Rams. He played every game of the season in which the Rams went on to become minor premiers. One of the top try scorers and leaders in try-assists, he was awarded the 2007 player of the tournament award for the ARC.

Beale played his first senior game for New South Wales against the ACT in January 2007 for a trial game in Wollongong. After coming on from the bench, he scored the first of his many memorable tries by chipping around the winger and outpacing the fullback to score. The game was won by NSW 12–0. Two weeks later, after again coming off the bench, Beale made a late break to assist in the winning try against the Crusaders.

Beale made his Australia A debut in the 2007 Pacific Nations Cup. He scored his first try in a 27–15 defeat of Samoa. Soon after, Beale narrowly missed out on being chosen for the Rugby World Cup in 2007, with the selectors opting instead for Berrick Barnes as the backup flyhalf for the Wallabies squad coached by John Connolly.

Beale made his test debut on the 2009 Spring Tour to the Home Nations when he appeared on the wing as a substitute in Australia’s 34–12 victory over Wales. He made a number of mid-week match appearances on the tour at fly-half.

2010 was a groundbreaking year for Beale in terms of his international career. He started the test season scoring two tries against Fiji and finished the year with a respectable record of seven tries from 12 tests.

In 2011 Beale received the John Eales Medal, awarded to Australia’s best rugby player of the year, and was nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year Award. He was named as part of the Australian squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and was favoured as the starting fullback when fit to play. However, he missed the Wallabies semi-final against the All Blacks due to a hamstring injury suffered in the previous game against South Africa.

Beale signed a two-year deal to play for the Melbourne Rebels starting in 2012. His Rebels teammates included fellow test players James O’Connor and Nick Phipps. He began the 2012 season playing at fullback but was switched to fly-half with the imminent departure of Danny Cipriani to England in May of that year. With Beale’s help, the Rebels put in one of their best performances since the season began in a narrow loss to the Bulls. The next week the Rebels triumphed over the highly ranked Crusaders, with Beale converting two tries (from 3 attempts) and kicking three penalties. The Rebels narrowly beat the Force the following week in Perth, with Beale once again playing flyhalf.

Beale played fullback for the third test against Wales in Sydney in 2012. He later played in three tests of the 2012 Rugby Championship, against the All Blacks in Sydney and Auckland, and against the Springboks in Perth. After his poor performances at fullback, he was benched the following week for the game against Argentina played at the Gold Coast.

On the 2012 Spring Tour, he played fly-half for all of the Wallabies games. In the final match of the tour against Wales, and in Nathan Sharpe’s last test match for Australia, Beale kicked three penalty goals and scored the match-winning try.

In June 2013, Beale was named to play for Randwick while on leave from the Melbourne Rebels following a spell in rehabilitation for alcohol related issues. He had previously played for Randwick against Gordon in 2010.

While on tour in South Africa during the 2013 Super Rugby season, Beale punched captain Gareth Delve on a team bus after a match. A post to social media by Cooper Vuna was subsequently re-published on at least one other blog, and Beale and Vuna were sent home early from the tour. Beale agreed to seek counselling for his alcohol related issues. He rejoined the squad and played off the bench against the Chiefs. Beale was again suspended before the Rebels were to play the Blues in Auckland. In July 2013, the Rebels dropped Beale from the squad.

Following a period in rehabilitation due to personal and alcohol-related issues in 2013, Beale was selected to play for Australia against the British and Irish Lions. Shortly before full-time in the first test, Beale slipped (and missed) while attempting to kick a penalty that would have won the game for the Wallabies. The Lions won 23–21. He played fullback in the final two tests of the Lions series which the Wallabies lost 2–1. Following the series, he was ruled out for the year after being told by new Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie (who had replaced Robbie Deans following the Lions Series loss), to have shoulder surgery to fix the shoulder injury he had suffered eight months earlier on the 2012 spring tour.

Reports had appeared in the media that some players had become uneasy with Patston’s role in the team and how much power McKenzie had given her, and some believed she wasn’t qualified for the position she had, particularly following the revelation that Patston had input into the player disciplinary measures that occurred on the 2013 Spring Tour. McKenzie was questioned at a press conference about whether he had lost the confidence of the players, and was even forced to deny being in an extramarital affair with Patston. Michael Hooper and Adam Ashley-Cooper came out and backed Beale to remain with Australia and Rugby Union, while Christian Lealiifano and Quade Cooper joined McKenzie in backing Di Patston. McKenzie announced his resignation as coach of Australia after the final Bledisloe test.

In 2014, Beale played in all three test matches against France, coming off the bench for the Wallabies. He scored a try in the second half of the first match of the French Series in Brisbane, and set up a try for Michael Hooper in the third Test. Beale’s successful season with the Waratahs earned him the Wallabies starting No. 10 role ahead of Bernard Foley against New Zealand in the first two Bledisloe Cup matches. Following 12–all draw and a 20–51 loss to the All Blacks, Beale was benched for the remainder of the Rugby Championship, with Waratahs team-mate Foley taking over the Wallabies No. 10 role.

On 29 September 2014, it was announced that Kurtley Beale would be investigated by the ARU over an alleged heated argument between Beale and a Wallabies team official, Di Patston, on a 10-hour flight from Johannesburg to São Paulo. The incident led to Patston leaving the tour early, and she resigned from her position shortly afterwards under stress. Despite the incident, McKenzie kept Beale in the squad in Argentina, but did not name him in the match-day 23 for the match against Argentina.

In May 2016, Beale, agreed to join English club Wasps RFC on a one-year contract with the option for a 12-month extension, for a reported £750,000 per season. However, shortly after announcing the deal, he suffered a potentially season-ending patella tendon injury. He made his Wasps debut in the European Champions Cup in a game against Connacht, scoring a try and receiving a yellow card in the first half. During his time at Wasps he played in 12 Aviva Premiership games scoring 4 tries and 5 European Champions Cup games scoring 1 try. He missed out on appearing the 2016/17 Premiership final after scoring a try (7 mins), but then being injured (46 mins) in the semi final against Leicester Tigers.