Marcus Rashford was born on 31 October 1997. He was born in Manchester, Greater Manchester, and was raised in the Wythenshawe area of the city. He is of Kittitian descent, with his grandmother being born on the island of Saint Kitts. He has two brothers named Dwaine Maynard and Dane Rashford, both of whom went on to represent him professionally. He is a cousin of fellow footballer Lois Maynard, who currently plays as a midfielder for Stockport County.

In 2012, he was part of the Manchester United under-15 squad which finished second in the 23rd annual Marveld tournament. In 2014, The Guardian named him as Manchester United’s best prospect in the 2014 Next Generation, saying that his “total-football style gives him a fair chance of going all the way”.

In 2012, Rashford was invited to an England under-16 training camp, and was later selected to play in the Victory Shield against Northern Ireland under-16s in September, and Wales under-16s in October.

Rashford was named on the first-team bench for the first time on 21 November 2015 by Louis van Gaal for a Premier League match against Watford, which Manchester United won 2–1. On 25 February 2016, Rashford was a late addition to the Manchester United starting line-up for their UEFA Europa League round of 32, second leg tie against Danish club Midtjylland after Anthony Martial was injured in the warm-up; Rashford marked his first-team debut with two goals in the second half of a 5–1 win. Rashford’s goals made him Manchester United’s youngest ever scorer in European competition, beating a record previously held by George Best, and which was later broken by Mason Greenwood in the 2019–20 season. Rashford made his Premier League debut against Arsenal three days later; he again scored twice and provided the assist for the other goal in a 3–2 home victory against their rivals, making him the third youngest scorer for United in Premier League history after Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck. On 20 March 2016, Rashford scored the only goal in the Manchester derby, his team’s first away league win over Manchester City since 2012. Aged just 18 years and 141 days, Rashford made his mark as the youngest ever scorer in a Manchester derby in the Premier League era.

During the FA Cup sixth-round replay against West Ham United on 13 April 2016, Rashford scored a fantastic curled goal in a 2–1 win to help United advance to the semi-final. He later led the line in the FA Cup Final against Crystal Palace on 21 May, which ended in a 2–1 victory marking United’s 12th FA Cup win and Rashford’s first piece of silverware. He wrapped up the season with 8 goals in 18 appearances, despite only debuting in February, as well as winning the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year. On 30 May, Rashford signed a new contract with United worth £20,000 a week, which would keep him at the club until 2020, with an option to extend for a further year.

For the new season, marking his place as part of the senior squad, Rashford was given the number 19 by new manager José Mourinho. Rashford scored his first goal of the season on 27 August 2016 against Hull City in tremendous fashion, scoring in the second minute of injury time after coming on for Juan Mata in the 71st minute. He scored thrice more the next month, on 18 September in a 3–1 league defeat to Watford; on 21 September in a 3–1 victory against Northampton Town in the EFL Cup third round; and in a 4–1 league win over Leicester City on 24 September. The following month he came runner-up to Portugal’s Renato Sanches in the Golden Boy award for best European player under the age of 21, on 24 October. As a player however he failed to score until 7 January 2017 when he scored a four-minute brace in the FA Cup against Jaap Stam’s Reading, which ended 4–0.

On 22 December, Rashford scored in the third minute of Manchester United’s first match under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, in which United beat Cardiff City 5–1. On 30 December, Rashford scored against Bournemouth again in his final game of 2018, also assisting Paul Pogba’s first goal in United’s 4–1 victory. During United’s first match of 2019 on 2 January, Rashford assisted the Red Devils’ first goal from a free kick and scored the second in a 2–0 win over Newcastle United at St James’ Park. On 13 January, Rashford scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium. He scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season on 19 January in a 2–1 win against Brighton & Hove Albion. On 2 February, Rashford was announced as Manchester United’s Player of the Month for January 2019, as well as winning United’s goal of the month for his strike against Tottenham. A day later, he made his 100th league appearance for the club and scored the only goal in a 1–0 away victory over Leicester City. In doing so, he became the second-youngest player after Ryan Giggs to reach the milestone for the club. His impressive performance in January earned him his first Premier League Player of the Month title, becoming the first United player since Ibrahimović in December 2016 to win the monthly league award. On 6 March, Rashford scored from his first competitive penalty to seal a 3–1 win in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain to send the club through to the quarter-final on the away goals rule; he also contributed to Lukaku’s equaliser, who scored off the rebound of Rashford’s initial shot. On 30 March Rashford scored the opening goal in United’s first victory with Solskjær as permanent manager, beating Watford 2–1.

Three weeks after making his senior début for United in early 2016, Rashford made his first appearance for the England under-20 team, providing an assist for Kasey Palmer in a 2–1 defeat to Canada under-20s. Despite already making his senior début earlier in the year, Rashford was called up to the England under-21 team for the first time in August 2016 for a fixture in September against Norway under-21s. He scored a hat-trick in a 6–1 in his only appearance for the team.

Rashford made his first appearance of his second full senior season on 8 August 2017 against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup as a 46th-minute substitute in a 2–1 defeat. He started in a 4–0 home win against West Ham United five days later on 13 August, providing the assist for Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal. Rashford scored his first goal of the season on 26 August, the opener in a 2–0 victory over Leicester, three minutes after coming on as a substitute. On 12 September, Rashford scored against Basel on his UEFA Champions League debut, the third in a 3–0 win, marking the sixth competition that he has scored in on his debut. He scored a brace against Burton Albion on 20 September in EFL Cup third round, as well as assisting the fourth goal in a 4–1 victory.

On 23 October, Rashford came third in the 2017 Golden Boy award behind winner Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé. By 28 October, Rashford had contributed to 12 goals in 16 games, with seven goals and five assists, with his most recent goal being against Huddersfield Town on 21 October and his most recent assist coming against Swansea City on 24 October. On 10 March 2018, Rashford scored both goals in a 2–1 win over rivals Liverpool on his first Premier League start of the year. Rashford scored in United’s last game of the season on 13 May, a 1–0 victory over Watford at Old Trafford.

Rashford scored his first competitive goal for the senior team on 4 September 2017, with the winning goal in England’s 2–1 win over Slovakia in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. He was named in the 23-man England squad for the World Cup. The tournament saw Rashford make one start in a group stage match against Belgium, plus an additional five appearance as a substitute (in every match except Panama). He scored in the Round of 16 penalty shoot-out against Colombia which saw England progress to the quarter-final, with England finishing fourth overall – their best performance since 1990.

In August 2018, prior to the 2018–19 season, Rashford was given the squad number 10, after the release of the club’s previous number 10 – Zlatan Ibrahimović. On 2 September, Rashford was sent off in a 2–0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor after clashing heads with Phil Bardsley. Rashford scored his first goal of the season on 29 September, United’s only goal in a 3–1 loss to West Ham United. On 3 November, he scored again, providing a winning goal in the second minute of stoppage time in a 2–1 win over AFC Bournemouth. On 1 December, Rashford provided both assists in United’s 2–2 draw with Southampton, with the goals coming from Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera. The following Saturday against Fulham, he provided two assists for Ashley Young and Juan Mata before scoring the final goal in a 4–1 victory. On 12 December, Rashford came on as 57th-minute substitute for Brazilian midfielder Fred and scored a header in the 87th minute in a 2–1 loss to Spanish team Valencia in the final group stage match of the Champions League.

On 8 September 2018, Rashford scored at Wembley in England’s UEFA Nations League opener against Spain, losing 2–1. Three days later, Rashford also scored in a 1–0 friendly win over Switzerland at the King Power Stadium. The following month, he scored a goal and provided an assist in a 3–2 away win against Spain. England’s final Nations League game on 18 November saw Rashford play in a 2–1 win over Croatia that saw England top their group and qualify for the Nations League finals in June 2019. In the semi-final, Rashford scored the opening goal of the game against the Netherlands, however England lost 3–1 in extra time.

On 1 July 2019, Rashford signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United, keeping him at the club until June 2023, with the option to extend by a further year. On the opening week of the season, Rashford scored a brace in a 4–0 win over Chelsea. In September 2019, following a spell of poor form, Solskjær said he was not concerned about Rashford’s dip in form and lack of goals. Towards the end of October, a return to form saw Rashford score in a 1–1 North West derby draw, ending rival’s Liverpool’s 17 match winning streak. The following week, Rashford scored and assisted against Norwich City, and scored a second brace against Chelsea in the EFL Cup. The return to form sparked by the Liverpool goal saw Rashford go on the best goalscoring run of his career to date, scoring 16 club goals in 20 matches, ending the run with a brace in a 4–0 victory over Norwich City. Rashford suffered a double stress fracture to the back in the following game, an FA Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which put him out of action for several months.

During the 2019 October internationals, Rashford scored his first goal in England’s qualification campaign for Euro 2020 in a 6–0 away victory over Bulgaria on 14 October. Rashford also scored in both of England’s November international, a 7–0 win over Montenegro and a 4–0 win over Kosovo. These wins saw England become the ninth team to qualify for Euro 2020.

In October 2019, Rashford set up the In the Box campaign with Selfridges to give homeless people essential items over the Christmas period, something he had wanted to do when first training with United as a youth. He and his mother visited homeless shelters to personally hand the boxes out, while also sending some to a children’s home in his grandmother’s home country of St Kitts and Nevis.

In May 2020, manager Solskjær announced that Rashford would be fit to play following the return to football during project restart. On 4 July, he scored his first goal since the restart as United beat Bournemouth 5–2. On 16 July, he scored his 17th Premier League goal of the season in a 2–0 victory against Crystal Palace, equalling his tally in the two previous seasons combined. At the end of season, Rashford was voted third for the English FWA Footballer of the Year award, he also received the PFA Merit Award.

On 26 September 2020, Rashford scored his first goal of the season in a 3–2 win against Brighton & Hove Albion. On 20 October 2020, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away win against PSG in the first match of the 2020–21 Champions League. In the next Champions League match, Rashford scored his first United hat-trick in a 5–0 win over RB Leipzig; it was the second hat-trick ever scored by a United substitute, following manager Solskjær in the Premier League in 1999. He became the sixth United player to score a Champions League hat-trick, and the first since Robin van Persie in 2014.

In March 2020, during the UK lockdown imposed by Boris Johnson’s government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rashford teamed up with the poverty and food waste charity FareShare to deliver meals to those in the Greater Manchester area who were no longer receiving their free school meals, as well as to children who attended community centres and school breakfast clubs. With an initial target of supporting 400,000 children in the region, the initiative quickly raised over £20 million to provide food for children nationwide who, if still at school, would be receiving free school meals. On 11 June, Rashford revealed that the charity had been able to reach three million children across the country, a figure which rose to four million the following month.

In the wake of the popularity generated by his charity work, Rashford signed with American rapper Jay-Z’s entertainment agency Roc Nation in April 2020, with president Michael Yormark saying he was a “shining example” of somebody who was “passionate about community”. On 15 July, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester in recognition of his work to end child poverty in the UK, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate from the university. His efforts also led to him being featured on the September cover of British Vogue’s “Activism Now” edition alongside Adwoa Aboah, which he downplayed, saying that he “had a voice and a platform that could be used to at least ask the questions”. In October, Rashford was appointed MBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours, and was also a recipient of the City of Manchester Award for his “outstanding and exceptional contribution to the city”. In the 2020 Pride of Britain Awards, he won the award for Special Recognition for his campaign against child food poverty. Local street artist Akse honoured Rashford with a mural of him in Withington, a suburb of Manchester where Rashford lived at the time he signed for Fletcher Moss Rangers.